Klancemas 2019
by devoosha
Summary: My attempt at Klancemas 2019 - College AU with Keith and Lance as roommates (OMG THEY WERE ROOMMATES) falling in love. The story follows the prompts of MonthlyKlance for Klancemas 2019. Each chapter uses one or more prompts to tell a complete story.
1. Snow Kisses

_**Day 1 - December 1 - Prompt: First Kiss**_

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**Snow Kisses**

"Keith! Keith! Wake up!"

His pleasant dream cut out abruptly at the feel of someone shaking his shoulder and the hiss in his ear of his name. He bolted upright, his heart racing. "Fuck, ow!" he exclaimed as his head bumped against something.

"OW!" echoed in the dark room.

Keith slumped back onto the bed on his side, his hand coming up to rub at the crown of his head. "What the fuck? Lance?"

He could see Lance in the dim light of their shared dorm room, pressing a hand against his forehead. His roommate knelt at the side of his bed. "That's gonna leave a mark," he said with a pout.

Keith rolled his eyes, pressing the now-tender part of his head with his fingers. He knew how important Lance's looks were to him. Not that Keith objected to Lance's looks. Not at all.

"What's wrong? Why'd you wake me?"

It took a minute of Lance staring at Keith before he remembered. His eyes lit up in spite of the tiredness evident in them. Both boys had been studying for finals and finishing up end-of-term projects - foregoing sleep and social activities to finish off their first semester of their first year of college with high grades.

"Get dressed! Come on!"

"What?"

"Trust me! Get dressed!"

Lance hopped up to his feet and skipped over to their shared wardrobe. He was humming what sounded like a Christmas song as he pulled out a sweatshirt of his own, then one of Keith's. He tossed Keith, who now sat up on his bed with feet firmly on the floor, the shirt and then pulled his over his head. Keith dragged himself out of bed and started getting dressed with a fond sigh.

If you told a socially introverted and backwards Keith on move-in day in August that this outgoing boy from Miami would have him wrapped around his long, tan finger by the end of the semester, Keith would have passed out from laughter. Yet, here they were, solid best friends. Lance somehow worked his magic on Keith - Keith who found himself involved in all sorts of activities and outings with the growing circle of Lance's friends.

Keith, who wished for more, but would never dare tell his roommate how he felt and thus spoil this friendship. He could worship from afar up close and enjoy the benefits of being Lance's best friend. Arms around the shoulder, whispered secrets in his ear, mugs of Keith's favorite tea (made in the illegal kettle they kept in their room) waiting for Keith on Tuesday night after his longest day of classes, stories of Lance's family and childhood, Lance helping him memorize notes for class, Lance making sure he ate, Lance decorating their dorm room with balloons and streamers and somehow finding a cake for the two of them on Keith's birthday, the little stuffed hippo Lance knitted for him, Lance making him dress up as Tweedle-Dee to Lance's Tweedle-Dum for Halloween, Lance surprising him with a cheap turkey dinner on Thanksgiving because neither of them could make it home - they ate at their desks while going over Chemistry (Lance) and Literature (Keith) notes.

All of it would disappear if Lance knew how much Keith loved him. Lance was sunshine and kindness personified, and Keith was simply a backwards emo kid with a resting bitch face who had no place in Lance's life. He tucked his feelings deep down inside so he could continue to orbit this sun - continually pulled in by his endearing gravity, but never allowed to touch.

"Why are we getting dressed?" Keith asked in a grumpy tone. He'd been awake until past midnight working on an essay for Modern Lit. "It's three in the morning."

"Trust me," Lance repeated. His coat was on already and he held Keith's coat in one hand and Keith's scarf and gloves in the other.

Unfortunately, Keith trusted Lance with his soul. Dammit, he wished he didn't. His narrow bunk was warm and his dream about Lance was nice. He wanted to return to both.

Once bundled up, Lance's gloved hand grabbed his to pull him out of the room. Keith was grateful for the scarf wrapped around his neck and lower face which hid his blush in the harsh fluorescent light of their dorm hallway. It was deathly quiet as they sped down the hall to the stairwell and ran down.

"Lance, what are we doing?"

Lance didn't answer. Instead he pushed open the exit door at the bottom of the stairs and dragged Keith by the hand outside.

The cold air hit the exposed skin on Keith's face, making his eyes water. They'd been in a cold snap the past few days, hitting the weekend before Thanksgiving with icy winds that made the walk to class a nightmare. Now, early Monday, the winds were gone leaving only the cold air and a silent world draped in snow. Big, fat flakes floated gracefully to the ground and it was clear and bright out. The nearly full moon reflected on the white ground cover and the normally busy and noisy quad was perfectly silent.

"It's snow, Keith..." Lance breathed out, his breath creating swirling clouds of steam in front of his face.

They stood there, still holding hands, and stared up into the sky as the flakes fell on their faces. Like a child, Lance stuck out his tongue to catch one, laughing in delight when he did. Even though Keith was tired and annoyed, he couldn't help but feel his heart melt at Lance's expression. Still, he had to keep up appearances. "So?"

"I've never seen snow."

Keith understood. Of course Lance had never seen snow. He grew up in Miami. Keith, who had grown up in the north, was familiar with it and, like any good northerner, was jaded about it. Yet, seeing it the first time, through Lance's eyes, gave him a whole new appreciation of it. Fuck, was he whipped.

"Oh. Yeah, I forgot."

Lance let go of his hand only to spread his arms and twirl around laughing. "This is amazing Keith!" he cried out. "It's so beautiful!"

Keith watched Lance, thinking it wasn't so much the snow that was beautiful, but he agreed with Lance that yes, 'it' was beautiful. Lance didn't need to know Keith meant the boy himself.

He soon thanked the gods above it was so late and the quad was deserted when Lance grabbed his hands and spun him around in the snow, reluctantly getting him to dance among the falling flakes. No one needed to see his lack of coordination and awkward steps as he laughingly tried to keep up. Lance helped, keeping a hold of his gloved hands as they spun in the middle of the quad.

They came to a halt, both breathing a little heavily from the exertion, puffs of steam raising up between them. Keith's heart ached with how sweet Lance looked with red cheeks and snowflakes in his hair.

"You should put your hood up," Lance said in a soft voice, letting go of Keith's hands so he could reach over Keith's shoulders to grasp the edges of the hood of Keith's coat. Gently, he drew it up until it covered Keith's hair. "Don't want your mullet to get all wet."

Lance didn't withdraw his hands - he instead held the edges of the hood with the backs of his thumbs brushing Keith's jawline. The steam from Keith's lips disappeared as he held his breath. He was stunned enough to not rise to the bait of Lance's teasing. He couldn't move, just as he couldn't breathe, and his hands hung at his sides. They were cold, in spite of the gloves, now that Lance's warmth had left them.

"Keith is speechless?" Lance teased again.

The tenderness and teasing caused a glitch in Keith's brain and he blurted out, "Why do you do this?"

"What?"

"This..." Keith said, lifting a hand to gesture at the hood of his coat and Lance's hands. "Take care of me the way you do."

"I don't understand," Lance said, his lips turning down into a frown, which looked out of place on him. "You don't like it?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, why?" He felt his cheeks burn. Why did he say anything? He ruined this moment like the idiot he was. "Why do you do all the things you do?"

"You really don't know?"

"No."

Lance laughed then, with a little shake of his head. "Hunk was right, you really are an obliviously adorable dork." With that, Lance pulled carefully on Keith's hood, drawing him closer. "Why else would I do everything for you?"

Keith's hands lifted involuntarily as Lance's lips met his. They hung in the air to the sides as their faces were muffled in Keith's hood. The image of snow and moon and stars was blocked and Keith's senses tuned into the heat and warmth of Lance's mouth as it moved over his. It took a moment before he responded, his hands coming in to rest on Lance's waist over his coat.

When Lance pulled back, he smiled at Keith. "Does that answer your question?"

Lance's smile was confident, but Keith could see the doubt and nervousness in Lance's eyes. He realized what a leap of faith this was for Lance. As self-assured as Lance liked to present himself, Keith knew Lance was, in reality, as insecure as anyone. The longer it took him to answer, the more his smile faltered. Shit, he should say something.

"I'd say so," he said, feeling his heart nearly explode, because Lance's relieved smile beamed brighter than the moonlight on the snow.

"I like you, if you couldn't tell," Lance said, dropping his hands to Keith's shoulders. "If you like me, too, I'd like to take you out on an official date."

"I'd like that."

"I guess that means you like me, huh?"

Because Keith could barely speak, he answered by kissing Lance again, amazed at how the cold seemed to disappear as their lips met. He'd never felt so overheated, to be honest.

"Why tell me now?" Keith asked when they stopped for air.

"I got tired of waiting for you," Lance said with a laugh - a laugh that bubbled through Keith like a sip of champagne. "And I thought, you know, my first snow and our first kiss. Kind of poetic, you think?"

"I do. Definitely on the romantic side," Keith agreed.

"Ok, you're shivering and trying not to let me see. Let me take you in and wrap you in blankets and get you into your bed. We can talk more tomorrow."

One more kiss. He needed one more in this magical land of snow before he allowed Lance to take care of him once again. "Sounds like a good idea."

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**A/N: Find me at devooshawrites on Tumblr**


	2. Sweater Weather

_**Day 2 - December 2 - Prompt: Sweaters**_

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**Sweater Weather**

"Don't forget to put a sweater on," Lance mumbled sleepily.

Keith could barely understand what the boy said because Lance's face was still buried in his pillow. "What was that?"

"Sweater. Cold."

Keith smiled before he went back into the bathroom to brush his teeth. It was close to seven-thirty in the morning and almost time to head out across campus to his eight am class. Lance continually told him how stupid it was to schedule a Monday class before noon, but Keith had brushed off Lance's opinion. He was a morning person anyway, so might as well take care of classes early in the day and get them out of the way.

Today was the first day he realized Lance might have been on to something. He was tired and, for the first time, abused his phone's alarm the same way Lance did - swearing at it when it innocently did the job he set for it. It was his fault, however. The lack of sleep. Or rather, Lance's fault they didn't get back to bed until almost four.

He stopped mid-brush, dropping his hands to the counter to brace himself as he stared at the mirror. He took in his hastily brushed hair, the dark bangs which hung in his eyes. He needed a trim. Dark circles and blood shot eyes from lack of sleep. The brush with the red handle ("I'll always use a blue one, Keith, you use a red one. That way we can tell 'em apart!") hanging from his mouth where a little toothpaste foam threatened to drip from his lip. Holy shit.

They kissed. They confessed. At three-thirty this morning after spinning around in circles in the snow. Holy shit.

It wasn't as if he'd forgotten. Keith wouldn't forget that. Not the way Lance looked at him. Not the way Lance smiled, with his damp hair wet with snowflakes and his cheeks flushed from cold. Not the way Lance pulled him close. Not the way Lance's lips moved against his.

And there's the blush returning to his own cheeks.

No, he hadn't forgotten. It just didn't pop right into his head during his mad scramble for the shower after his alarm went off at seven, leaving him half an hour to get ready to head out the door. His two minute shower ("Seriously, Keith? All in one hair and body wash? Can't you take better care of yourself?") and rush to get dressed kept his mind focused. He hadn't allowed himself to remember why he was so tired, and why he felt so light-hearted and happy when he woke.

They kissed. Lance asked him out. On a real date. Holy shit.

His phone went off again - the second alarm set at seven twenty-five to remind him he had five minutes to get out the door. He hastily lifted his hand to scrub at his teeth and rinsed his mouth out. Shit. What would he say to Lance - Lance who was lying on the top bunk in their room, sleepily reminding Keith to dress warm because that was Lance. Always taking care of him.

They kissed. He didn't know how to act with this new dynamic. Honestly, what should he do? He silently asked himself this as he stared at the mirror. His reflection was no help. It looked as panicked as he felt. Shit. Should he kiss Lance goodbye? They had kissed already, but would that seem too weird? They said they'd talk today, but it would have to be tonight after their classes. They hadn't defined what this was. A date didn't mean boyfriends, but they lived together already. Fuck, this was confusing.

Shit, he stared at the door leading into their room like it was lava. He didn't want to go in there. Unless...maybe Lance had fallen back asleep. That would be the hoped-for ideal situation. Keith could slip out without having to decide. Maybe kiss the sleeping boy's forehead. Taking a deep breath, Keith opened the door.

Lance was standing there waiting, a large lump of something in his hands. His tousled bedhead looked too adorable for words, and no one had the right to look bright-eyed and refreshed in the morning after minimum hours of sleep. Lance slept even less than Keith the night before - Lance told him so. Why didn't he look like death warmed over too?

No, somehow in the five minutes Keith spent in the bathroom, Lance jumped out of bed looking like a million dollars. Maybe Keith should pay more attention to Lance's skin/body care routine if this was the result.

The surprise that Lance was out of bed on a Monday before eleven forced Keith to blurt out, "What are you doing up?"

"I wanted to make sure you dressed warm. And to say goodbye. I won't see you until dinner, right? You've got class in the early afternoon, and I've got lab until four." He held up the bulky thing in his hands. "I noticed you don't have anything warm for yourself in the wardrobe. When I looked through for a sweatshirt last night."

"Um, most of it's in the hamper," Keith said. "And I usually don't wear heavy things."

"Yeah, you run warm. I know. That cold, resistant Michigan blood," Lance said, laughing. "But I don't want you to get sick, since we were up so late. So here," he said, shaking out the blue knitted thing. "I know it's kinda corny, but I made you this for Christmas and figured I should give it to you now so you can be warm."

Keith knew Lance knitted. He had a stuffed hippo Lance made him. Lance's grandmother taught her grandson to stave off his boredom when a broken leg laid him up one summer. Lance said it depressed him to be away from the beach and the surfboard for almost the entire summer, so his grandmother taught him how to knit. He'd done it ever since, usually using his talent to make gifts for people.

To know Lance thought so much of him to knit him a sweater to keep him warm brought a lump to Keith's throat. Lance did this before he knew Keith liked him too. '_Lance's heart is too pure for this world'_, he thought. '_How the fuck can I deserve him?_'

Lance looked a little unsure, so he added, "Um, I know it's not your color. You like black and red. But I like blue, and I thought this shade would look nice on you and add a little color to your wardrobe. If you don't like it, I can make you one in a color you like," his tone turned uncertain and Keith recognized he was babbling because Keith hadn't reacted.

"Lance," he said, placing his hands over Lance's, which clutched the sweater between them. "It's beautiful. I love it."

The sunshine smile returned. "Oh good! Put it on. You'll freeze in only a t-shirt, Keith. It's below freezing outside and still snowing! How you're going to make it to class I don't know," he kept babbling, happy now, as Keith took the sweater and pulled it over his head, settling it on his body. "Oh, it's a little bit big," Lance lamented. "But you do look cute in it!"

Keith turned, blushing at the compliment, to look in the mirror Lance insisted they hang on the back of the bathroom door. It did look good on him, though he thought he looked strange in a color other than black or red. "It fits great. It feels warm," he said, running his hands over the front, his fingers luxuriating in the soft yarn. "It's perfect."

"Shit! I hate to push you out the door, but you have to hike all the way across campus in this snow!" Lance bounded over to the door where their coats hung on hooks and snatched Keith's. Keith felt self-conscious as Lance held it for him as he slipped his arms into the sleeves. Lance then wrapped Keith's scarf around his neck. "Here's your gloves and make sure to pull the hood up. I'm making you a hat next," Lance scolded gently.

Keith stood in shock. It wasn't the first time Lance had done this, but his caring ways took on a whole new meaning. Keith now understood why Lance did all he did. "Lance..."

Lance stopped mid-sentence and looked at Keith, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Thank you," Keith said, putting his gloved hand against Lance's cheek. "This sweater...it means so much to me. Thank you for it. And for everything you do." With that, and with courage he drew from where, he knew not, Keith leaned forward and kissed him.

Lance blushed, then laughed. "I keep thinking this morning was a dream. I guess it did happen."

"It did."

"Whew, good. I didn't know what to say or do. I didn't know if you'd want me to, I don't know, kiss you goodbye or what."

"I didn't know either. We didn't get a chance to talk yet."

"We will tonight."

"Definitely."

They stood looking into each other's eyes for a minute. Then another minute. Smiling.

"Ok. If we keep doing this, you'll be late. Go!" Lance ordered, grabbing Keith and physically turning him around to point toward the door. Keith let him push him out into the corridor, but he turned before Lance could shut the door.

"Thank you again."

"Anything for you," Lance said.

Keith stole one more goodbye kiss before he left for class. He didn't even feel the cold on the quick walk across the snowy campus. The flakes fell on him, he trudged through the snowdrifts, the wind howled around him, but the blue love wrapped around him kept him toasty and warm.

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**A/N: Find me at devooshawrites on Tumblr**


	3. Making a List

_**Day 3 - December 3 - Prompt: Wish List**_

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**Making a List**

They were boyfriends.

It was official.

Discussed and agreed upon over dinner last night.

That sounded so formal. Too formal. As if they'd negotiated a treaty to end a world war. Signed their names on the accords. Officially declared themselves allies.

Not something discussed and agreed upon over soggy cafeteria food in the crowded dining hall, surrounded by loud, obnoxious college students, blushing and barely able to speak. Either of them.

No, it wasn't formal at all.

They liked each other. They wanted to date. Boyfriends it was.

All before the first official date.

Lance didn't care if it were backwards. It's not like he didn't know Keith.

He fell back on his bed, starfishing as best he could on the narrow bunk. A dream come true. Keith. Keith, who at first was bristly and standoffish, but Lance soon figured him out. He was shy, which made him awkward, and introverted, which made interacting with others difficult. Lance understood. His sister, Rachel, was the same way. She wasn't unfriendly, just unable to cope with too much social interaction.

Lance, who thought his roommate unfairly attractive and mysterious, knew he'd have to make the effort with Keith. At first it was to make their lives easier and potentially make a new friend. Lance was new to this area of the country and had never lived further north than Miami. Fortunately, he made friends easy enough - people attracted to his outgoing personality and sense of humor. He knew if he and his roommate didn't get along, that would make for a long semester or two, so he'd made all the effort with Keith.

It paid off, because once he broke through Keith's walls, which took a couple of weeks, he found Keith to be warm-hearted, funny, adorkable, and intelligent. Lance loved to hang out with Keith and found they had a lot in common, which did make their living situation ideal.

It was near mid-October that Lance realized his feelings weren't simply friendship. Hunk was the one to point it out to him. They were at a party together - Lance, Keith and Lance's new friend group - and someone was hitting on Keith. Lance's vision turned green, figuratively, and he ranted to Hunk for a good fifteen minutes while Keith sat trapped on the couch looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"He keeps looking at me, Hunk!" Lance exclaimed. "Throwing it in my face how stupidly attractive he is to get hit on at a party while I stand here talking to you."

"I think he looks more like he's begging you to rescue him," Hunk said patiently.

"Why would he want me to do that?"

"He doesn't exactly look like he wants that guy hitting on him."

Lance looked over the situation again. Keith did look like a deer caught in the headlights, now that Hunk mentioned it. "I think you're right."

"I know I am. Go save your boyfriend."

"My boyfriend!" Lance squawked.

Hunk shrugged, non-plussed at Lance's reaction. "Oh c'mon, Lance. We all know you have it bad for Keith."

Lance, always one for the dramatics even in his mind, realized Hunk was right as if it were an epiphany. As if the heavens rejoiced and sang "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" when he looked back at the trapped figure on the couch. He did care for Keith. He had ranted for a quarter of an hour about how angry he was Keith was getting hit on by some random guy. "Holy shit."

"You didn't realize? I thought you were both oblivious, but at least I thought you_ knew_ how you felt."

"What do you mean by 'both'?"

"Keith's into you too. We all have bets for when it'll happen."

This was new information for Lance. Keith liked him? He'd never said anything. Yeah, he was shy, but he didn't show Lance he thought of him like that. Didn't Keith want to like him? Maybe he didn't.

After that, Lance was determined to win Keith's hand, so to speak. He had been generous and thoughtful toward his roommate from the beginning, but now he went hardcore. He doted on Keith. He was surprised at the amount of things he knew about Keith that helped Lance to do things which made his roommate happy. The Halloween costume suggestion? Lance remembered Keith mentioning he loved to read '_Alice In Wonderland'_ as a kid. Finding an electric kettle at the thrift store because Keith said he loved tea at night. Making a stuffed hippo for him because Keith doodled pictures of hippos on his class notes. Providing Keith with a Thanksgiving as best as Lance could, since Lance couldn't go home and neither could Keith. Keith's brother lived only two hours away, but his brother spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with his boyfriend instead, leaving Keith at his dorm.

It didn't seem to work. Not even celebrating Keith's birthday. Yet, Lance kept trying. He did get the feeling Keith liked him back, but Keith wouldn't make the move and Lance was too chicken to do it.

Until Sunday night/Monday morning. During a sleepless night, Lance, returning to bed after a trip to the bathroom, looked out the window before crawling back into bed and saw the quad covered in snow. Snow! His first snow!

He looked down at the sleeping form of his roommate and decided it was now or never. First snow, first relationship. Sounded romantic and sappy enough for him. And it worked.

He covered his face with his hands to muffle the squeal he let out. Keith liked him back. Keith _kissed_ him back. The roommate he'd been pining for all semester - Lance finally worked up the courage to confess to him. He'd never done it before and it was so hard to do it. They lived together, so if Keith didn't feel the same, it would make everything awkward. Lance knew one of them would have to ask for a transfer if that happened.

He wouldn't have to now. They were on the same page and their new relationship loomed up before him as some huge mountain to climb. Not that he shrunk from it. No, Lance was excited about it. Keith seemed excited about it. And the living situation wasn't awkward at all. The only real change was snuggling up on Keith's lower bunk while watching a movie last night. They'd watched movies before on Keith's bed, but never under a cozy blanket and holding hands. That was new.

As was the kiss goodnight before Lance climbed up onto the top bunk. Reluctantly, because he was warm and comfy on Keith's bed, but it was too early to contemplate making _that_ change.

Now today, Tuesday, Keith was in class and Lance had a free afternoon where he should be studying for exams, but wasn't. He lay on his bed thinking over the momentous last couple of days and dreamed and planned for their future.

There were so many things he wanted to do with Keith. Now that they were a couple, they could do all those romantic couple-y things Lance always yearned to do with a special someone. He was sure Keith would roll his eyes and tease him, but he didn't care. He'd waited forever to have someone to do these things with and he wasn't going to pass up any opportunity to do them with his new and beautiful boyfriend.

He should make a list. What a brilliant idea, he thought as he sat bolt upright, finger raised. "A list! That way I don't miss out on anything!"

He jumped to the floor and hurried to his desk, rummaging around on the surface for one of his notebooks. One not completely full of notes and assignments for class. Ah yes, the one he bought for his archery class, a physical education credit. He hadn't taken many notes for that.

He flipped toward the back to a blank page and tried two pens before finding a third one that had ink in it. He really should throw them out when they ran dry. At the top, in his loopy, scrawling handwriting, he wrote:

**MY WISH LIST WITH KEITH**

Now, with the paper before him, all ideas went out the window to float around in the crisp cold air. He stared out the window as if trying to see them. What the hell? He was just thinking about them. He tapped his pen against his lips for a moment - the words reappeared in his head - and he hastily scribbled them down.

The list finished, Lance attempted to study, but to no avail. He kept looking at the list, sat to the side of the desk near his History book, and plotting out ways to make everything on it happen. He was in this position, elbow on his book, chin in hand, gazing dreamily at the list, when the key in the lock alerted him to Keith's return.

* * *

Keith usually didn't come back to the dorm after his afternoon class, since he had an evening one. He went straight to the dining hall, ate and hung out there until his night class. They'd decided, the day before, to walk to the dining hall together, so Keith came home to get Lance.

"Hey," he said, kicking off his boots at the door, then pulling off his scarf and gloves. Lance made a note to borrow the mop from the cleaning closet on their floor.

"Hey, yourself," Lance replied, his heart beating a little faster in anticipation. It did every time he saw Keith, but it took on a whole new aspect now.

"What'cha doing?" Keith asked. He didn't take off his coat, but the boots came off so he could cross to Lance's desk to bend down and drop a kiss on Lance's upraised lips.

"Studying for History."

Keith looked down at the book under Lance's elbow. "Doesn't look like you're making much headway," he commented, chuckling at Lance's weak protesting sound. Then his attention got caught by Lance's notebook. "What's this?"

Shit. Lance's hands slammed down atop his writing. "Nothing, Keith!"

"It has my name on it!" Keith playfully tried to pry the notebook from under Lance's hands, but it became a struggle. Lance wore a blush, as did Keith, both for different reasons.

"No no no no! Uh uh! You can't see!"

"What are you writing about me?"

"Nothing for _your_ eyes!"

"Is it a poem about my eyes?" Keith teased.

Lance did not think he could take this new side of Keith. "No!"

Lance had the advantage of long limbs, so Keith had no hope of actually getting his hands on the notebook, but Keith had the advantage of Lance's tendency to get flustered from mere contact. The fact that Keith was practically wrapped around him as his hands grabbed for the paper made Lance nearly lose it.

Then Keith pulled the dirty move. The low one. He kissed Lance's neck. The sneaky little shit. Lance went fetal, meaning he pulled in his arms as he squealed, and Keith easily grabbed the notebook from his hand.

Keith danced away in triumph, holding the notebook aloft as if it were an Olympic torch. Seeing Lance's pout, however, made him smile. "If you really don't want me to read it, I won't."

Ugh, he was too good for Lance. "You'll make fun of me."

"Why would I make fun of you?"

"You'll think it's stupid."

"I promise I won't."

"Go ahead. Read it and laugh at me," Lance said, crossing his arms and looking away.

"I won't if you don't want me to," Keith assured him.

Lance waved at him in a vague gesture of permission.

The room was silent as Keith read and Lance couldn't bear it. As much as he hated to be laughed at by the boy he liked so much - his new boyfriend - he turned his head to see Keith's reaction at all the silly things Lance thought for them to experience together.

What he wasn't prepared for was Keith's wide eyes, brimming with tears. Forgetting his embarrassment, he jumped right up and closed the gap between them. One hand on Keith's upper arm and the other pushing his bangs out of the way as Keith looked at him. "Keith, what's wrong?" he asked, concern coloring his tone.

"You-you want to do all this with me?"

Confused, Lance answered, "Well, yeah. I do."

"No one's ever wanted..." he choked on his words, then cleared his throat. "I can't believe this."

"Why can't you believe it?"

"These are all so. So. Nice."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. And you want to do them with me."

"Of course I do. You're my boyfriend, right?"

"I know. I know. It's just. This made it _real_ for me." He sniffed, dropping the hand with the notebook, and reaching up to rub at his eyes. "God that sounds pathetic, but I've thought this was a dream the past couple of days. This made it real," he repeated.

"A silly little list?"

"It sounds stupid. But yeah. This shows you're planning things with me. That you want to be with me."

"I thought I made that clear."

Keith made a little frustrated groan that Lance wished he didn't think so cute. "You did. But it's still felt like a dream. I don't know how to explain."

"You were the one who assured me yesterday that it wasn't a dream, but I think I get what you mean. It's real Keith. All of it, every last bit. I do want to do all those things, and more, with you. I know some of them are corny, but I want them just the same. I'm so happy to do them with you."

"I am too. And they don't sound corny to me. They sound like you, and that's what I love about them."

Lance was not prepared to hear the word love from Keith, and he knew he didn't mean it in the context Lance hoped for, but it still sent a little shock through his system. Instead of saying anything, he pulled Keith into a hug, settling his chin on Keith's shoulder, and let Keith cling to him. He wasn't exactly crying - the emotion was too big for that, Lance thought, but a few tears slipped onto Lance's own shoulder.

"Thank you," Keith said.

"What for?"

"For saying something the other morning. I'm glad you had the courage for both of us."

Lance pulled back so he could cup Keith's face in his hands, smiling at the way his cheeks smushed and his lips puckered out a little. "You're welcome," he said, leaning in to kiss his new boyfriend.

The notebook fell to the floor, momentarily forgotten.

* * *

**A/N: Find me at devooshawrites on Tumblr**


	4. Snowed In

_**Prompt - Snowed In**_

* * *

**Snowed In**

The chime of his phone woke Keith on Wednesday morning, long before his alarm. He groped above his head to the shelf attached to the bunkbed he shared with Lance, his sleep-deprived brain thinking only one thing – shut it off before it woke the sleeping beauty on the top bunk.

His brain didn't register it wasn't the notification sound he set for his alarm after he shut it off. He lay on his back, his phone now fallen on his chest after shutting it off, staring at the underside of the bed above him.

He heard the text notification on Lance's phone go off then, but Lance didn't stir. He could see Lance's tan hand hanging over the side of the bed, dangling just to the right of him. Keith reached up and brushed his fingertips lightly over Lance's, smiling at the fact that his boyfriend slept through the annoying little chime.

He stretched, luxuriating in the pull of muscles cramped from sleeping in one position all night. A deep breath as the sleep cleared slowly from his mind. A glance at the window, however, halted that clearing with a jolt of confusion. It was still dark. His alarm was set for nine, so it should at least be light out. And wait, it was Wednesday, the one day Lance got up early for a class. Lance was usually leaving when he got up.

In fact, didn't he set his alarm fifteen minutes early so he could get up and give Lance a few kisses goodbye before he left?

He lifted his phone so he could see the time. 7:13 am. What the fuck? Why would he set his alarm this early?

That's when he noticed the notification. It wasn't an alarm; it was a notification from the school's app. Rolling his eyes at his sleep-slowness, he opened the app to read it.

_***UPDATE: Altea University CLOSED for Wednesday, December 4, due to SNOW CONDITIONS. Check email and blackboard for class updates._

Classes canceled? That must have been why Lance's phone buzzed too. Keith sat up, pushed the covers off, and stood up to go to the window. It was still snowing, part of the weather system that moved in a few days ago. For some reason, this storm was hovering over the state, reluctant to move on over Lake Huron and toward the rest of the northeast. The lake effect snow the system gathered over Lake Michigan as it moved across had dumped feet of snow on the university over the last few days, and must have put in a huge last effort early this morning. Keith could see the sidewalks crisscrossing campus weren't cleared.

Snow drifted halfway up the first floor windows of the dorm next door, so he wondered if their dorm was the same. It had to be. Were they essentially trapped for the day inside? That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though he was disappointed to miss his class. They were supposed to do presentations today, so a delay would cut into their study reviews for the next couple of weeks. Besides, he had worked hard half the night, in spite of distractions in the form of the sleeping boy on the top bunk, to finish his power point for it.

Could they even get to the dining hall to eat? It didn't look like it. Would the halls even be open? It was something he wasn't sure of, and, by the looks of things outside, they definitely wouldn't be open for breakfast. There were pop tarts on Lance's shelf, so at least they wouldn't starve this morning. They rarely took breakfast in the dining hall anyway, opting for the extra time to sleep to the last minute.

They were snowed in. Visions of snuggling with Lance for the day, watching movies and stealing kisses from each other sounded like the exact perfect thing to do. Suddenly, this snow day sounded like the best gift nature could give him.

Turning from the window, he stepped over to the bunk bed they shared. Lance was eye level to him on his bunk, if he stood on tiptoes, and he gently shook Lance awake. "Lance?"

Lance stirred, withdrawing his hand from where it hung over the side of the bed so it disappeared under the covers.

"Lance?"

"Five more minutes, Roni," Lance mumbled, turning fully over to face the wall.

Keith laughed, softly so as not to further disturb his boyfriend. Still, he wanted to let Lance know he could sleep in. Keith would turn off his alarm, but he didn't know Lance's lock code for the phone. Putting his hand on Lance's shoulder, he shook him again. "Lance," he said, a little louder.

Lance half rose, turned, and flumped on the bed, getting a loud creak from it. He turned his head to look at Keith with half-lidded, tired eyes. Keith thought Lance tried to glare at him, but that was ruined by the cute smoosh of the side of Lance's face on the pillow. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I wanted to let you know you could turn off your phone, sleepyhead," Keith said. "School's canceled."

He watched Lance process this information for a moment. "Canceled?"

"Mhm. The snow is too bad. It looks like we got another foot last night. The drifts against Bond Hall next door cover the windows on the first floor."

"They cancel school for snow?" Lance lifted himself onto his elbows, staring down at Keith.

"Well, yeah. Sometimes it gets bad enough for it."

"Holy shit!"

"You didn't know that?" Keith asked.

"Keith, I'm from Miami. We only cancel for hurricanes! I had no idea I could get a day off for snow!"

Lance was wide-awake and bright-eyed now. "Well, we do. I think we're snowed in here, too. I'll have to check, but I don't think we can get out."

"This is absolutely amazing! Wait! What if we starve, Keith! Shit, we're gonna die!"

"Calm down, drama queen!" Keith said, laughing. "We won't starve. There's a message on your phone about the cancelation. Get some more sleep, if you want. It's still pretty early."

"I can't sleep now, Keith! I have to enjoy this day off!"

* * *

Lance was true to his word. With energy Keith rarely saw during the week, Lance bounded out of bed and into the shower. The first hour or so after he woke up, they both went through their individual morning routines, ate pop tarts, and checked their school app, the "Blackboard", for any messages from their instructors. Both had assignments to complete in the absence of a class, but Lance declared that was something to worry about for another day.

Keith couldn't – his assignment was a reading and to fill out a review sheet during his class time. He didn't mind because he liked the class. Lance pouted because it would cut into their day off time together, only to have Keith remind him they were in school and that it wouldn't take more than an hour out of the day.

While they were breakfasting, their RA, Doug, checked in with them. He told them that they were, indeed, snowed in and couldn't leave the building yet. Campus facilities was slowly working their way across campus, but their dorm was low on the list. Doug said that if they were interested, the RA's had organized an impromptu party that afternoon in the lobby.

That perked Lance up even more. A party! Keith, however, cringed inwardly. He did not enjoy parties, especially when he didn't know anyone. Just because he'd lived in this dorm all semester didn't mean he knew anyone in it. Other than Lance and Doug. Lance looked so excited though.

* * *

It wasn't so much a party as it was a gathering of people in the dorm, milling around the lobby, occupying every flat surface on which to sit. By the time they dragged themselves down (Keith had to finish his homework), there weren't many places to sit. Keith had no idea how they got food – there was pizza boxes strewn about the little end tables in the lobby. Keith could see the doors leading outside to the quad were still drifted over with snow.

"Have pizza, guys. Two sophomores jumped out of their second floor window and waded downtown to get some!" Doug said, shoving a box in front of them.

"Wow, I'm surprised anything was open," Lance said.

"It's that Mike's Pizza. The owners live next door to the restaurant," Doug said with a shrug that made the box bob so that Keith missed his grab for a slice. "Sorry," he said, steadying his hand so Keith could help himself.

The little party wasn't as bad as Keith feared. He did feel uncomfortable, but, as always, Lance made everything easier for him. He took the lead on conversations and never pressured Keith to join in. Not that he didn't let Keith go without saying anything. He drew Keith into a few and while Keith stammered his way through, Lance never let it go for too long.

Lance was a social butterfly. It was one of the things Keith admired about him – his ability to fit himself into any situation and make people like him. Keith knew a relationship with him would be difficult in that respect. He didn't want to hold Lance back, but the thought that he'd be in all these potential social situations did make him freak out a little.

The lobby had a large screen TV in it and was currently playing one of the Avengers movies. The noise and the conversations he'd suffered through were getting Keith close to his limit. Before he realized it, Lance had subtly guided him to the back of the large group, more near the reception desk and mailboxes. There was a bench there and he settled Keith next to him.

"Doing ok?" Lance asked. He wasn't too close to Keith – Lance gave him plenty of space, but still kept contact by holding Keith's hand. Keith focused on that.

"Yeah."

"I noticed you looked a little uneasy. Do you want to go back up to our room?"

"You noticed that?"

"Of course I did. I figured you were getting overwhelmed with the crowd, so I brought you over here. But if you want, we can go back up."

Keith couldn't believe it. He knew Lance was having fun. He got into a heated, but friendly, debate with a large group of their dorm mates over who was the strongest Avenger. He talked excitedly about living in Florida with a sophomore girl on the third floor. He made sure to get pointers from the two who had braved the snow to retrieve the pizza ("You never know, Keith! Maybe we can be the heroes next year!").

So, yes, Lance was having fun, but he was willing to go back to the room. "You'd go back up?"

"Yeah!" Lance said, all enthusiasm.

"But you're having a good time?"

"Well, I am, but if you're not, then we should go."

"I can go up. You don't have to leave."

"Don't you want to hang out with me?" Lance asked, meanly throwing in a pouty look at Keith.

"Of course I do, but you shouldn't have to leave for me."

"I want to. I want to do whatever you want to do. If you're uncomfortable doing something, we don't have to do it."

That was. Unexpected. But then Keith realized it shouldn't be. Hadn't Lance been like this the whole semester? How many times had they left parties early with Lance claiming a headache, or homework deadlines, or the party was boring?

"How do you know?"

"Know what?"

"That I need space?"

Lance lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "My sister, Rachel, is the same. Sort of. Hers is a little worse. You can last a long time. Not sure if it's just cause you're stubborn," and Lance gently poked him in the head, "or you don't have the anxiety as bad, but I know you have it."

"I'm that obvious?"

"I know the signs," Lance said. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about." Keith thought he must have been blushing. "We'll just deal with it."

"I hate the thought of you missing out…"

"Missing out on these people?" Lance scoffed. "It's you I want to be with, not them. Not that they aren't nice, but honestly I would love to go back up to our room, put on our jammies, cuddle under your comforter, and enjoy the rest of this snow day watching Marvel movies. Oo! And I have hot cocoa mix too. With marshmallows! I'll make you some. Does that sound good?"

"That sounds heavenly."

"I can't wait to kiss hot chocolate off your lips."

"I'll make sure to keep drinking it then."

Laughing, Lance got to his feet and pulled Keith after him. Holding up a finger to his lips, Lance let go of his hand and snuck over to the nearest table where the stack of pizza boxes sat. He looked through them, slid one out from the middle, and returned to Keith. In answer to Keith's puzzled look, "We'll need dinner, Keith."

"We can't just take a pizza, Lance!"

"Don't worry, I gave Doug a twenty earlier to help pay for all this. I think that gets us a whole pizza, don't you?"

"I'm sure it does," Keith agreed, following Lance to their room to enjoy the rest of their snow day.

* * *

**A/N - Find me at devooshawrites on Tumblr**


	5. Twinkling Lights

_**Prompt used: Decorating**_

* * *

**Twinkling Lights**

Lance trudged back to the dorm, stepping carefully to not fall on the icy sidewalk. Three feet of snow loomed on either side of him. Normally, he thought, he'd be thrilled at this. A maze cut into the snow following the sidewalks. It was surreal to walk through these paths, looking at the figures of students on other sidewalks where you could only see their upper half. Normally this would amuse the shit out of him.

Not today. He was so worried about his Abuela.

Yesterday was such a good day. Classees canceled (he still couldn't believe that was a thing). A little party at the dorm. Cuddles with Keith in their room, between eating pizza, sipping hot chocolate, and trading kisses. Watching two of his favorite Christmas movies – _'Die Hard'_ ("YES Keith, it is a Christmas movie!") and _'Nightmare Before Christmas'_ ("You have to love a movie you can watch on two holidays, Keith!").

One phone call from his Mamá ruined everything.

Mamá assured him over and over that Abuela was all right. Sore and in pain, of course, but the old woman was as tough as a stubborn old tree. A fall and a broken hip wouldn't bring her down for long. The prognosis for surgery was excellent, but it would take time to heal. His Tia, who lived with Abuela, happened to be out of town for the month on a vacation with her cousin, and Abuela had no one to help her after the surgery.

Mamá and Papá planned to leave for Cuba tomorrow, and would stay until the end of the year. Luis already had plans to go with his wife to Lisa's parents in North Carolina, and Rachel decided to go with them. Marco and Veronica would accompany their parents to Cuba. The question was, what did Lance want to do?

He didn't know Lisa's family very well. He'd only met them once at the wedding. They were all nice and he liked them, but he thought it would be odd spending Christmas with people he had no connection to, other than he happened to be related to someone who married into the family. He knew his parents would get him a ticket for Cuba, but a discreet check of prices that morning appalled him. Last minute fare to Cuba from Michigan was outrageous – three times the amount of his flight to Miami. He didn't want to do that to his parents.

Mamá said she could change his ticket to bring him home on January 2 and send him home the day after Three King's Day. He could still see the family, even though the time was cut short. The original plan had him home for a month in Miami – now it would be under a week. Her idea to celebrate Christmas the weekend he was home didn't console him. It wasn't the same. And to have Christmas blend immediately into Dia de los Tres Reyes made it all seem wrong.

Not that Lance was selfish about it. He understood completely. All he wanted was for his Abuela to be well. If it meant his parents had to be there, then he fully supported it. He couldn't help it if it depressed him. He felt guilty over his sadness about it – his Abuela was hurting – but he was so excited to be with his family over the holidays and now, no matter what he chose, they wouldn't all be together.

He was grateful Keith was there. He don't know what he would have done if he'd been alone last night. Keith held him as he cried, awkwardly rubbing his back as Lance sobbed into his chest, telling him everything would work out all right. He smiled, the first smile all day, because he woke up tucked into Keith's bed, while Keith stepped quietly around the room pulling his things together for class. Keith must have slept in Lance's bunk to allow Lance to continue to sleep.

Keith, who expressed his happiness that Lance was awake, kissed his forehead, said again how sorry he was and that he was sure everything would work out – they'd talk at dinner, said goodbye, kissed his forehead again, then left with a little wave before shutting the door.

All he wanted to do right now was cuddle up to his boyfriend and let Keith comfort him more. It had been a long day, trying to concentrate on his professors when his mind was thousands of miles away on an island in the Caribbean. His heart ached for what he would miss this year, and the seeming uncaring attitude of his siblings, who all seemed ok with the family split up for the holidays. At least Keith understood. And if he didn't understand completely, he was there for Lance, which meant more to him than anything.

With another smile at that thought, he picked up his steps off the elevator, striding down the corridor to their door. He really couldn't wait to see Keith now.

He almost thought he was in the wrong room when he opened the door. He even looked at the door front, which he had decorated with big construction paper cutouts of his and Keith's names at the beginning of the semester. No, it was their room. With an expression of wonder, he stepped into the room and gently closed the door.

Their room was…transformed was a good word. Twinkling Christmas lights were strung around the room, hung on any and every wall surface. Dozens of strings of them draped over the window, the wardrobe, and the doors, twisted around the bunkbed frame. A little fake tree, standing two feet tall, stood on Keith's neat desk graced with blue and red ornaments and garland. Cheap cardboard decorations depicting Santa and Snowmen had been taped to their walls all around. There was even a blue fleece throw on Keith's bed covered in white snowflakes.

The lights weren't on, but the room didn't need it. The glow from all the strings of light illuminated the room enough. It smelled like pine and Lance noticed a candle burning on the window ledge.

"Do you like it?"

His eyes focused on Keith, who stood next to the bed looking at him with apprehension. His hands were in front of him so he could fidget with his fingers, a sign Lance recognized as anxiety. "I love it."

Keith visibly relaxed. "Good."

"How? Why did you do this?"

Keith shrugged, looking away from Lance – toward the little tree on his desk. "I hoped it would cheer you up. I know you're upset about Christmas, so I wanted to try to give you a little bit of Christmas here in our room. I know it's not perfect or anything. I didn't have a lot to work with from the dollar store. But I got what I could there," he gestured vaguely. "I went there after class – they'd cleared the roads, so I walked over. They didn't have much, but I still wanted to give you this."

Lance's heart burned, overwhelmed at what Keith had done. He knew Keith's heart was big and generous, but Lance never expected this. He expected the comfort Keith gave him. It's what you did for each other in a relationship. Or you were supposed to. Even a new one. But this was something else. This was love.

"It is perfect," he whispered, tears filling his eyes. He reached up to wipe them away, unsure if they were sad tears for his situation, or happy tears. Keith's smile was the evidence he needed to know they were the happy tears. "Thank you."

He yanked off his coat and hung it, tossed his book bag into the corner, then finally got his arms around his boyfriend. "Thank you thank you thank you," he whisper-chanted in Keith's ear, squeezing Keith as hard as he could, trying to convey through the hug how much this meant to him.

"I wish I could do more."

"Just being here for me is all I need."

Keith tightened his hold around Lance's waist. "I-I have something to ask you. And if you don't want to, I won't be offended. Please know that."

Lance loosened his grip, as did Keith, so he could lean back and look Keith in the eye. "What?"

"If you want, I asked my brother about it today, and he was all for it. If you want," Keith hesitated for a moment. "Would you like to spend Christmas with us?"

"With you?"

"Yeah. Come home with me. Shiro's boyfriend will be there, but he's pretty cool. My brother is pretty lame and corny and we don't do a whole lot for the holidays, but you're welcome to spend it with us."

That possibility hadn't occurred to Lance at all. It wouldn't be strange or anything, he didn't think. He and Keith were good friends. It was similar to the situation with Luis' in-laws, but in this case, there were only two strangers to deal with as opposed to two dozen. It'd probably be awkward, since he and Keith were just starting their relationship, and he knew he'd still be sad to be away from his family, but the idea sounded perfect to him.

"Are you sure your brother's ok with it?" Lance asked, stalling as he tried to decide what to do.

"Oh, yeah. He's excited to meet you," Keith assured him. "Look, I realize it's a big step, since we only just got together. I get it. If you feel it's too much too soon, it's ok. I honestly don't know how I'd feel if it were you asking me. I won't feel bad if you decide to go to your family. I wanted to give you an option."

Fuck, how the hell did Lance get so lucky to find someone who understood him so well? Who got him and wouldn't be mad if Lance rejected his offer. Keith's whole response decided it for Lance. "Can I talk to my parents first to see if they're ok with it?"

"Of course. I would expect you to do that."

"I'll call them right now. If they're ok with it, I want to go home with you. Can I tell you something?"

"You can tell me anything."

Lance rested his hands on Keith's arms – arms still wrapped around his waist. His fingers fiddled nervously with the fabric of his sleeves. "There was one thing I wasn't looking forward to when I went home."

"What was that?"

"Missing you."

"Oh," Keith said, his cheeks turning pink. "I was going to miss you too." He hesitated again before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Lance's, and Lance thought that he loved how hesitant Keith was with him. Though he was hesitant, he still went through with whatever action he wanted to do. As if he were psyching himself up to do something he wasn't sure Lance would like. It was endearing to Lance that Keith cared so much for him.

Cared so much he decorated their room in cheap and tacky Christmas decorations to make Lance smile. Cared so much he took a leap out of his comfort zone and invited Lance to spend Christmas with him. Cared so much he held Lance all evening as he cried, soothing him as best as Keith could. Cared so much he made it clear he'd be happy with whatever Lance chose to do. God, Lance was so happy he took the chance to tell Keith the other morning.

Keith continued, "I know you're gonna miss your family, but I'll try to give you the best Christmas I can. I promise."

"You don't know how much that means to me," Lance said, his voice choked up.

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	6. Snowy Saucer Spins

_**Prompt Used: Sledding**_

* * *

**Snowy Saucer Spins**

"We can cross one thing off my list already!" Lance said brightly.

"It's cold out."

"Keith," Lance explained in his most patient voice. "I am from Miami. You are from here," he said, pointing down at the floor. "You should be cold-blooded enough that this won't seem cold to you. I am the hot-blooded one, and if I'm willing to go outside, you should be too."

"I don't know if any of that should insult me, or what?"

"It's not an insult, my grumpy little bear," Lance said, ignoring the lift of one of Keith's thick eyebrows.

"It still sounds like one," Keith said, crossing his arms. "And that better not be on the table as a term of endearment for me?"

"Then get out of hibernation mode and let's go outside!" Lance exclaimed. "You haven't been outside all week!"

"You're talent of exaggeration boggles my mind. I went outside in the freezing snow the other morning. I've been to class every day except the day we were snowed in. And I went to the store yesterday. How much more time can I spend outside?"

"None of that was fun," Lance protested, then hastily added, "I mean, the going to class stuff wasn't fun. The other morning was certainly fun." He grinned at the blush that promptly covered Keith's cheeks. "And I appreciate you went to the store," he added, gesturing around the room at the Christmas decorations Keith surprised him with. "But this is gonna be fun!"

"Where are we going?"

"Hunk said there's a great big hill a couple of miles from campus. He even said he'd drive."

"Who's all going?"

"Hunk and Allura. Pidge refused. James said no, too. Something about a video project he needs to finish. You like Hunk and Allura. It'll be alright."

Keith did like both of them, especially Hunk. Everyone liked the friendly and sweet Hunk. Allura was all right. A little aloof, but friendly enough, though any animosity Keith felt toward her was from the mistaken belief that Lance was chasing her at the beginning of the semester.

"If you want, I'll go."

"Yes!" Lance yelled, grabbing Keith and lifting him for a little spin.

* * *

A great big hill turned out to be a slight misnomer. It was…a decent sized hill. Keith didn't think it would be huge. This area of Michigan was full of gentle rolling hills, not huge hills. Still, the hill was respectable and would probably make for good sledding. They weren't the only ones who thought that, apparently, because there were at least a dozen people on the slope already.

The four of them piled out of Hunk's car and Hunk retrieved the plastic saucers he bought out of the trunk. He found four cheap ones at the Walmart. Cheap ones, but at least they were large. Each of them took one and trudged through the already foot-trodden path up the side of the hill.

Lance's expression was excited – eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed and huge smile. "This looks so much fun!" he said, watching the other sledders on the hill as they slid past.

"I keep forgetting you've never done this before," Allura said in her accented and musical voice.

"I've seen it on movies and TV, of course. It always looked fun, but it looks better in person!"

"Wait until you're soaked through and freezing," Keith muttered.

Lance put his arm around Keith's shoulder. "No no no. Grumpy bear needs to go back into his cave. Bring out happy bear for me, ok?"

Keith turned his head to meet Lance's eyes. He could see the pleading through the excitement. He wanted Lance to have fun. Just because Keith was jaded about winter didn't mean he should spoil it for his new boyfriend. Lance was right, he should be happy. He was getting to spend the afternoon with Lance.

He smiled, pleased at the way Lance reacted – his cheeks flushed darker and he planted a kiss on Keith's cold cheek. "There's my happy bear."

At the top of the hill, they waited in the informal line for their turn. "You know what to do, Lance?" Hunk asked.

"Sit and go?" he asked.

"Sort of. I can give you a push the first time. I think the first couple of times down, you should just sit and hold on," Hunk suggested, glancing at Keith.

"I agree," Keith said. "You can slide on your belly later when you're used to it."

With a shout, which surprised Keith, Allura ran toward the edge and landed on her belly to slide down the slope on her saucer. Keith laughed at Lance's expression. "Yeah, I think I'll sit the first time," Lance said.

They took their saucers to the edge and Hunk instructed Lance to sit cross-legged on the saucer. "Make sure to hold onto the handles," Hunk cautioned. "Don't let go, or you'll fall off." Lance gripped the handles tightly with his mittened hands. Keith pulled Lance's hat down more firmly on his head and Lance gave him a grateful look. "If you fall off," Hunk said, getting a squeak from Lance, "Get out of the way as fast as you can. You don't want someone to hit you." Lance nodded, settling himself more firmly on the saucer.

Hunk bent over and with a big heave, shoved Lance off the edge. His shriek did something to Keith. For some reason, Lance's wail of terror warmed his heart, because behind the terror, he could hear the laugh in the yell. Sledding suddenly seemed like the most fun thing in the world, because he could hear how much fun Lance was having as he flew down the hill.

Without another thought, Keith sat down and let Hunk push him. Memories rushed through his head as the wind rushed through his hair. Tearing down a hill back home with Shiro – the both of them on a wooden sled which belonged to their grandfather. The thrill of the plummet and the buzz from the cold caressing the cheeks. The freeze of tears teased out from the wind. The pumping of the heart and adrenaline as you flew down, trees rushing past on each side. An involuntary shriek escaped from his lips – and a heartfelt laugh that hadn't bubbled from his chest in the longest time.

It felt like the rush of kissing Lance the first time.

Not as sweet as kissing Lance, but the same sort of rush.

The hill was not large enough for a long slide. It was over in a few seconds, and he almost crashed into Lance at the bottom. He rolled off the saucer in time to avoid a collision. Now, covered with snow, he sat up and looked at Lance. He looked like a kid, especially the way he bounced up off the saucer. "That was amazing, Keith!"

Keith laughed, "It was!"

Lance put out his hand and helped Keith up and they dodged to the side in time to avoid Hunk sliding to the foot of the hill. Allura was already halfway up the hill, walking up with someone none of them knew, but seemed to be charming the pretty sophomore.

With more energy, the three of them trailed after Allura and the young man back up to the top. While waiting in line again, Keith got a mischievous idea and told Hunk not to worry – he'd give Lance the push he needed for his next trip down the hill.

Lance eagerly sat down, looking quite the expert now, on his saucer and gripped the handles. "Push me, my little bear!" he ordered.

Keith chuckled, bending enough to whisper in Lance's ear, "Just for that…" and before Lance could react, Keith pushed him towards the edge on his sled, but before releasing him, Keith pulled his hands to the side, sending Lance on a spin down the mountain, instead of straight down.

The resulting shriek was music to his ears and he watched Lance fly down, spinning out of control and holding on for dear life. He didn't make it far and spun out to the side landing face down in the snow. By the time he flailed about and was able to sit up, it was to see Hunk and Keith flying by him on the slope, laughing as the passed him.

"You're gonna pay for that, grumpy bear!" Lance yelled as he tried to run down the rest of the slope toward Keith.

Keith sprang off his sled and tried to run, but Hunk stopped him. "Oh no, you take your punishment," Hunk said laughing as Keith struggled in his grip.

"Hunk!" Keith pleaded. "No!"

"Only fair," Hunk said placidly, barely making an effort to hold on to Keith. He let go in time for Lance to catch up to them, drop his saucer, and tackle Keith into the snow. They fell to the ground, both yelling and laughing at the same time.

"Betrayed by my own boyfriend!" Lance choked out between his giggles. He sat on top of Keith, who sunk into the snow and couldn't find purchase with hands or feet to help knock Lance off him. Lance gathered snow in his hands and held the half-made snowball in his hands above Keith. Keith put up his hands, sputtering out protests, which Lance ignored. With an evil laugh, Lance smushed the handfuls of snow in Keith's face.

"Aaaahhhhhhh!" Keith yelled, scraping the snow off his face and out of his eyes. He wanted to be angry, but he suddenly became hyper-aware of Lance straddling him and, once his eyes cleared, to see the happy expression hovering above him, melted his anger as the snow melted in his hair. God, Lance was beautiful like this. How could Keith ever think sledding was stupid? Not if it put this smile on this beautiful sunshine boy's face.

Mittened hands grabbed Lance's jacket and pulled him down abruptly, getting a small yelp from the boy which Keith muffled quickly with his lips. Lance's lips were cold, as was the nose pressed against Keith's cheek, but his mouth soon warmed with mingled breaths and heated tongues.

"Uh, guys? We're in the way," Hunk said diffidently, but they ignored him. "Guys?"

* * *

"That was so fun!" Lance exclaimed as he pulled on a sweatshirt over his long sleeved t-shirt. He'd already donned his sweatpants and big wooly socks – all after a long, hot shower. Keith sat on his bed, holding a mug of hot chocolate and covered with the blue fleece blanket he'd found the day before.

"It was," Keith agreed. "Cold, but fun."

"Thanks for humoring me," Lance said, pulling his sweatshirt into place. "I get to cross something off our list already! We're not even to our one week anniversary!" With a smile, Lance bent over his desk and made a show of crossing out the item on his wish list. Then he grabbed his own mug of hot chocolate made by Keith and joined Keith under the blanket. "You're still cold."

"The heat's not really working today."

"I was kind of kidding about you being cold-blooded, but I think I'm right."

Keith sent him a half-hearted glare, at which Lance merely grinned. "I'm not cold-blooded."

Lance hummed and sipped on his drink. "What shall we watch tonight?"

"Let's binge some _South Park_," Keith suggested.

"That's not very Christmassy," Lance said.

Keith shrugged. "It's almost always set in snow. Close enough."

Lance laughed. "Ok. It's been ages since I've watched."

They snuggled close together and Keith navigated to the show on his Hulu app. "You know," he said before he hit play, "I thought sledding would be pretty lame, but I had a great time. Thanks."

Lance looked at him, his eyes sparkling in the glow of the Christmas lights. "Thank you," he said. "You really know how to make me feel better."

Keith's gaze dipped down for a brief moment, toward his steaming mug, but he quickly lifted it again. "That's all I want to do. Make you happy."

"Same." Lance leaned forward and kissed him on the side of the mouth. "You had a little chocolate there," he said, then slid himself down enough to put his head on Keith's shoulder. "Play on, my little bear," he said.

Smiling, Keith pressed play on his computer and rested his own cheek against Lance's slightly damp hair.

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	7. Snowballs in the Face

_**Prompt: Snowball Fight**_

* * *

**Snowballs in the Face**

"I've never been in a snowball fight," Lance said, standing at the side of the college baseball field.

"Really?" Pidge asked.

"I don't even know the rules. Is there, like, a points system, or is it to the death?"

"Death seems a little extreme," James said.

Lance lifted his arms with a shrug. "Well, how am I supposed to know?"

The group of friends laughed. They got together this afternoon in an effort to both hang out and let off some steam from their semester. The next week would see the deadlines coming due for many of their projects, as well as studying for the finals. Lance suggested a snowball fight. It was on his wish list, first of all. Second of all, it did sound like something that could be fun.

Six of them - Lance, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, James, and Allura - gathered in the weak afternoon light of a clear day. Pidge suggested one of the baseball fields because of it's sheer size. It's not like the baseball team was going to use the snow covered diamond.

"I guess you wouldn't," Pidge mused, eyeing the field. "Alright, we'll split into teams. We each get fifteen minutes to build a fort at opposite ends of the infield."

"Uh, we can't really see the infield, Pidge," James pointed out.

She made a face at him. "We know where it is, dipshit." Pidge was the saltiest of the friend group, and didn't quite trust James for reasons Lance couldn't figure out. "One team on one side, one team on the other."

"So how do we know who wins?" Lance asked quickly before James could snipe back at Pidge.

"I think it's ten points a hit, isn't it?" she asked, looking at Hunk. He shrugged. "Yeah. Ten points for each hit. Fifty if you get a face hit. You got to be honest and acknowledge when you get hit. No cheating," she said, glaring at James.

"Also," Hunk added, holding up a finger for each item, "No putting stones in your snowballs. No using any yellow snow if you come across it. No spitting on the snow to freeze it into ice. We set a time limit, and once reached, we compare points. Most points wins."

"What's the prize?" Allura asked.

"How about losers buy the winners pizza at Mike's?" James suggested.

Lance waited for Pidge to protest, if only to spite James, but she didn't. They all agreed. Pidge decided she and Allura should pick teams, as they were obviously the only qualified ones there, which didn't make sense to the others, but they weren't about to argue with Pidge. Keith thought of a number between one and ten, Pidge and Allura guessed. Pidge guessed closest so she got to pick first.

She picked Hunk and Allura chose James. Keith went to Pidge's team and Lance to Allura's. He pouted at being the last choice, but Pidge reminded him he was a self-admitted newbie to the world of competitive snowball fighting, so it was only logical he'd be picked after everyone else.

"At least I can throw snowballs at Keith," he said happily.

Pidge set the timer on her phone and both teams scrambled to opposite sides of the diamond to start their fort build. Allura directed James and Lance to push as much snow into a wall as they could. She knelt down behind where she marked the place for the wall and started forming snowballs, telling them she wanted a stockpile for the fight.

Fifteen minutes wasn't very much time, but Lance and James built a surprisingly large wall in the allotted time. Allura praised them as she dashed between the three piles she made, adding snowball after snowball. Pidge yelled time was up and Allura stood with her gloved hands on her hips, surveying their armament. "This isn't that bad, gentleman," she said.

They grinned with pleasure at the pretty girl's praise, then peered over to survey the battlefield. Pidge and Hunk were engineering students, so the wall facing them was formidable. "How the fuck did they put turrets in?" Lance asked.

"It's got fucking windows!" James said.

"No worries, soldiers," Allura said, her voice confident. "Fancy castles don't always withstand sieges. We have to be smart about this."

"If you haven't noticed," James said, "Pidge and Hunk are geniuses."

"But they don't have street smarts," Allura said. "We do. And, if I recall, Lance has uncanny aim. At least he did in skeeball when we went to Chucky Cheese. We just need a battle plan. Once we have it, we can execute our strategy. I think we need to count on Lance landing face shots. We all need to be aware of snowballs aimed at us. We can allow hits, but under no circumstance shall we allow a hit in the face."

"One hour from now, losers!" Pidge yelled. "Come on out cowards!"

"Don't rise to the bait," Allura said.

They talked strategy and decided on a plan. James would draw fire, while Allura and Lance would strike at the enemy. Lance was to concentrate on face shots, while Allura would bombard the other fortifications with a volley of snow. James ran track, so they hoped his speed would be an asset. The three put their hands together, yelled "Go Team!", and prepared for battle.

Allura poked her head above the wall and right away a snowball launched from their enemy. She easily dodged it and sent one back over. "Shit!" they heard from Pidge.

"Ten points already?" Allura yelled over.

"Yes," Pidge responded grudgingly.

Lance and Allura started tossing snowballs at the other wall, aiming behind it and hoping to hit one of them. The other team retaliated and for a moment, snowballs flew through the air at a rapid rate. James grabbed the opportunity to rush around the right of their own wall toward the other, one arm carrying a supply of snowballs, the other rapid firing. Shouts of TEN came from each of them when they were hit. Allura kept a running total in her head. Lance kept to the left side of the wall, hoping someone would come out and try to hit James, who was lobbing snowballs from his position out in the open and easily dodging the ones aimed at him.

Lance got his wish. Keith dashed out towards James, arm cocked to throw, but he never got a chance. Lance didn't call himself 'Sharpshooter' for nothing. Keith fell to the side from a perfectly aimed snowball that hit his face.

He struggled to sit up, yelled "FIFTY", only to get knocked back again from another snowball to the face. "Fuck, Lance! FIFTY!"

Keith rolled over, scrambled to his feet and ran back to the safety of their wall. Allura and James cheered, but the battle was far from over. Allura, James and Lance reconnoitered behind the wall to discuss further strategy while frantically making more snowballs.

"We're gonna have to grab snow from further behind us. It might leave us vulnerable," she said as she stood to take stock of the other side. They, too, must be stockpiling. Only an occasional snowball soared over their heads.

"I think we should rush them," James said.

"Rush them?" asked Lance.

"It would leave our faces vulnerable," Allura said. "We need to get them to rush us." She tapped her chin with her finger. "We need to make it look like we're falling apart. Let's pretend to argue," she suggested. "They might take it as a sign we're in disarray and then charge. Once they do, Lance can grab a bunch of fifty point hits for us."

"Perfect!" Lance agreed.

They stockpiled two huge piles of snowballs on each side of their wall, then began their fake argument. It started with Allura yelling loud enough to carry over to their enemies that Lance wasn't following directions and dammit she knew he was from a warm climate, but how hard was it to follow directions? James jumped in to defend Lance and Allura turned on him, accusing him of being a sexist asshole who wouldn't listen to her just because she was a woman.

The three of them kept arguing, making the accusations against each other more outrageous. It was hard for them to not laugh at their words, because none of it was true. Allura, a theater major, played her part perfectly. So perfectly that if Lance didn't know better, he would have thought she truly was mad at him.

They argued, but each kept an eye on the other wall through small holes they made while they were strategizing. They may not have been engineering majors, but they were able to make spy holes without damaging the integrity of the walls. Sure enough, in the middle of their shouting, they saw the forms of Pidge, Hunk, and Keith slowly creeping across no-mans land, all caution in case it was a trap.

When nothing happened, and the arguing got louder, the enemies appeared to relax and get bolder. Lance saw them smile at each other, give each other thumbs up, and get themselves ready to throw the first shots.

In mid-sentence – a scathing sentence which questioned James' intelligence and lack of morals – Allura shouted, "NOW" and she and James dashed around the right of the wall, pelting snowballs at the hapless enemies. Lance jumped from the left side and threw his three snowballs, each hitting one of the enemies directly on the face.

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith had no hope then. They threw up their hands, temporarily blinded by the snow in their eyes. It left their bodies vulnerable to the attacks of James and Allura. The victims couldn't count their totals anymore, as they were shrieking with rage at the ambush. They did try and muster a counter-defense, but to no avail. Allura's team overran them, forcing them to their knees.

Allura held up a hand to halt James, who stood next to her, and Lance, who stood ten yards away ready to fire again. "Do you concede?" she asked, and held up a snowball, her expression threatening. Lance felt a small quake of fear at the fire in her eyes. Apparently, Allura took snowball fights seriously. He almost conceded until he remembered he was on her side.

Pidge looked murderous, at least her scowl did. Snow covered her glasses in patches, so it was difficult to see her eyes, but Lance knew they were probably just as on fire as Allura's. Keith wiped at his face, looking over at Lance with a look of betrayal. Hunk simply looked as happy as he usually looked.

"We surrender," Pidge spat out, viciously wiping her gloved hand across her face. "Time's almost up anyway."

Lance bounded over to Allura, dropping his ammunition into the trampled and churned up snow. He and James threw themselves at Allura, toppling her into the snow. The three cheered for their victory, while the defeated sat up in the snow, brushing snow off their chests and shoulders.

* * *

"I am stuffed!" Lance declared when they got back to their room.

"You should be. You ate a full pizza by yourself." Keith's tone still carried a bitterness to it.

"Aw, are you still mad at me?"

"The snow was cold."

"I understand that's how snow works."

"Funny."

Lance laughed. "I thought I might go and throw my coat in the dryer. Want me to do yours too?"

Keith looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, sure."

"What's that look for?"

Keith shrugged, then handed his coat to Lance. "I don't know. I guess it surprised me you thought of it. I mean, not about drying it, but doing mine too."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Keith shrugged again. "You're always thinking about me," he said, blushing and looking away. "I'm not used to it."

"I like you, silly. Of course I'm always thinking about you."

"But you don't just think about me. You think about me."

Lance didn't understand what he meant, because it sounded as if Keith contradicted himself. "Huh?"

Keith rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean. Ugh, this is hard to explain. Like most people would think about their crush or something. Superficial things? Like how they look or things like that. You think about me and what makes me happy. About things I don't even know I need."

"Cause I care about you."

"I care about you, too, but I feel bad because I don't do the same."

Lance's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe Keith thought he didn't show the same amount of care toward Lance that Lance showed to Keith. How dense was his boyfriend?

"Keith, what are you talking about?" Since his hands were full, he nodded his head toward the nearest strand of lights. "Didn't you do this because you thought it would cheer me up? Didn't you invite me home with you so I wouldn't be alone on Christmas?"

"Well, yeah," Keith said, his cheeks darkening. "But you do so much more."

"It's not a competition, Keith. And you do a lot for me too. You make sure I eat and sleep. You let me watch the things I want to watch on TV. You let me pick movies. You help me when you see me struggling with homework. You do so much for me, every day. You probably don't realize how much."

"You notice that?"

"Of course I do. And I appreciate every little thing you do. Even before we found out we wanted more than being friends."

Keith went silent, a signal Lance knew meant Keith was processing. He also knew Keith probably needed a bit of space, so he hefted the sodden coats in his arms. "Let me run these down to the laundry room."

He gave Keith fifteen minutes, by taking the time to run down and grab their mail and chat with the girl at the front desk. Another friend from the dorm was in the lobby, so Lance stopped to say hello. He texted for a few minutes with Hunk. All to give Keith some time.

When he returned to the room, Keith stood in the same spot Lance left him. He tossed his laundry card on his desk and turned to Keith, holding out his arms. Keith came over and let Lance fold him into a hug. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Wanna curl up and watch a movie?"

"It's Saturday night."

"I do believe you're right," Lance said, kissing Keith's temple.

"Did you want to go out?" Keith asked. "On a date?"

"We can do an official date any time, Keith."

"But it's Saturday night."

"Dates can happen whenever. And who's to say a movie night in isn't a date?"

"We do that all the time."

"Yeah, but not with kisses and snuggling, right?" Lance asked, and he heard Keith chuckle. "See? We went to dinner, and now we have a movie. Dinner and movie is a perfect date night. It doesn't matter that dinner was with friends, or the movie is on your laptop in our dorm. We're still together and that's the important thing."

"You're right," Keith agreed.

Lance loosened his hold and wriggled his way to get a kiss from Keith. "I'll go shower and you get everything set up. I'll even let you pick the movie tonight!"

Keith laughed. "Wow, I get to pick? It really is a special occasion then. Definitely more like a date."

"Hey!" Lance objected, without much meaning because he started laughing. "Just for that, I'm gonna use all the hot water."

He let go of Keith, then remembered something. "Oh yeah. I get to cross something else off the list," he said, moving to his desk and picking up his pen.

"If we keep doing things every day, we're gonna get through the list pretty quick," Keith said.

"That's the best thing about this list, Keith," Lance said, smiling his bright smile at Keith. "I can add to it too, not just cross things off."

"Good thing it's a big notebook," Keith said, leaning against Lance to watch him cross "_Snowball Fight" _off the second page of the list. "It's a big list already."

Lance smiled and nodded, a thrill running through him. He couldn't wait to add to the list. And continue to add to the list. He wanted to spend a lifetime adding stuff and crossing them off.

"There's so much I want to do," he said, giving Keith another quick kiss. "So I left a lot of space."

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	8. Cozy Chocolate Kisses

_**Prompts used: Hot Cocoa / Cozy**_

* * *

**Cozy Chocolate Kisses**

"We need a change of scenery," Lance declared, sitting up straight at his desk where he had been hunched over.

Keith looked over from his spot at his desk. "What do you mean?"

"We've been sitting here all day," Lance whined. "I can't take it anymore."

Keith frowned as he leaned back in his chair. "Lance, we've been at our desks for all of..." and he looked at his phone, "twenty-five minutes."

"That long!" Lance gasped.

"It takes longer than half an hour to write a twenty page paper."

"Ugh. Why do you have to do that?"

"Ask my teacher. I certainly don't want to do it!" He leaned closer to Lance - their tiny dorm desks were side by side - to glance at Lance's laptop. "You haven't finished the first slide of your PowerPoint, Lance," he chided. "All you have is the title."

"I set it up to do a wipe to the next slide," Lance bragged. "I set up all the wipes for all the slides. I even have a dissolve set up for dramatic effect on the last one."

"It will be more effective if you actually put information and data on the slides."

"Details..."

Keith shook his head, amused at his boyfriend's antics, then felt the little pang in his heart as the word 'boyfriend' teased through his mind. He couldn't get used to this. To be fair, it hadn't been a week yet, but Keith was sure the giddy feeling he felt every time he thought the word would never go away. "You have all the research done. Just type it in."

"But it means having to think of what to say and writing out my part of the presentation."

"You love being the center of attention," Keith said, turning back to the scholarly article on his screen which was part of his own research.

"Not for this. And I swear I'm the only one doing any work on this stupid thing. Those two girls haven't done anything but whine about boys every time we've met up to discuss the presentation," Lance said. "They should do something, at least."

"Group projects should be outlawed," Keith agreed. "I can't believe I lucked out this semester. None of my professors assigned any."

"I need to transfer into Media Studies, then," Lance said.

"I thought you wanted to be a teacher?"

"I can be a media teacher."

"I guess. But you love kids. You're gonna be a great teacher." He liked how Lance blushed under his praise. It wasn't easy for Keith to give compliments, but it was worth it for the sight of Lance with red cheeks. "Besides, I've got almost all gen eds this semester, same as you, so it has nothing to do with my major."

"_Anyway_," Lance said with emphasis, "As I was saying, we need a change of scene."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's get out of here. We never seem to leave this room!"

"Let the record show," Keith reasoned, "we spent a good part of yesterday outside. And," he added, "I offered to go out last night, but you wanted to stay in."

"That was a long time ago," Lance protested. "And today is a whole new day."

"I need to finish this, Lance. It's due on Tuesday and I won't have much time tomorrow. You need to get this part of your presentation done to show your partners."

"Just because we get out of here doesn't mean we can't go somewhere else and work on our stuff."

"Where do you want to go?"

"How about the coffee shop downtown? We can do our work there as easy as we can here. They have WiFi."

"I don't know. It's pretty quiet here."

"They have hot chocolate, Keeeeeeeith," Lance pleaded.

"So do we."

"Not real hot chocolate. Hot water with powder isn't hot chocolate. The coffee shop uses milk. And chocolate." He held up one hand and sang "I have hot milk. I have chocolate." Then he smacked his hands together. "Uh! Hot Chocolate!"

"Did you really reference the pineapple pen thing?"

"Yes. Did it work?"

Keith laughed, then gently closed his laptop. "I hate to admit it did. Ok, let me pack up my stuff and we can walk over there."

Lance looked surprised his tactics worked, and he scooted over to throw his arms around Keith. "You're the best!"

* * *

"Two hot cocoas, please!" Lance said, his voice glowing with enthusiasm.

"Name?"

"Lance. For here."

The girl wrote his name on the receipt and slid it to her counterpart, muttering the order. "I'll grab a table," Keith said, pulling at his scarf to loosen it. The little shop was quite warm.

"Awesome!"

He took Lance's backpack from his boyfriend and looked over their choices. It wasn't packed, at least, so that was good. He rarely came here, though he knew Lance loved the place. He imagined he'd frequent it more now they were together. He didn't mind. It was a nice cafe, with dark wood accents, tables made from rustic timber, a fireplace, and brick walls. Today it was decorated for the holidays with wreaths and garlands and lights. The scent of pine and spice mixed with the dark hints of coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. It was scent overload, but it somehow worked and Keith felt his stress melt away.

The table in the corner near the fireplace was free - a round table with four chairs, and big enough to hold their laptops, books, and notebooks. Keith put their book bags down, one on each of two chairs, and hung his coat on the wall hook nearby. He unpacked his laptop and notebook and sat down on the chair facing the rest of the cafe, with his back to the wall. He left the seat nearest the fire for Lance, because he knew Lance liked the warmth.

"I got us a little treat, too," Lance said, suddenly there at the table, holding two plates in his hand. A blueberry muffin on one and a cranberry muffin on the other. "I like both, so you choose the one you want."

Keith knew Lance loved blueberries, so he took the cranberry one. "Thanks!"

Lance beamed at him, placed his plate at his spot, then went back to wait for their drink order.

Keith shook his head, his eyes on Lance. His arms rested idly on each side of his laptop, but he couldn't bring his focus onto his work. Not when this gorgeous boy stood there in his oversized parka, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited. Lance glanced over his shoulder, caught Keith's eye, and winked. Keith blushed, but winked back, which got a big grin from Lance. He lifted a hand to do a finger gun at Keith, but his name was called out, so he turned back.

The mugs of hot chocolate were ridiculous. Large mugs, filled to the brim and topped with an insane amount of whipped cream. Keith stared down at it. "How am I supposed to drink this?"

"Just dig in!" Lance said, laughing. He slipped off his coat and hung it up, then settled down in the chair. "Oh, nice spot, Keith. This is so cozy right here!"

"Cozy?"

"Yeah. Nice and warm. It smells good. We got treats. We're in this little alcove-like spot. Feels like it's just the two of us, even though we're in a cafe. Cozy. And romantic."

Keith thought about it. It was true. It felt good to sit here. He scooted his chair closer to Lance, who smiled at him as he did. Their arms pressed against each other, which helped to warm him up as much as the fire and the warm drink would do. It was cozy. Warm, cozy, and gave Keith a feeling in his heart as if it were wrapped in a fuzzy sweater.

He'd never felt this before, this sweet and heady rush of love, infatuation, lust, and adoration. He'd felt the crush, of course, on Lance all semester and other boys in high school, but this went beyond anything like that. The vague thoughts in September that Lance was cute morphed into solid thoughts which spoke of commitment and dedication. To know Lance felt the same made him feel drunk from happiness.

He watched as Lance munched on a forkful of his muffin, humming in pleasure at the treat, as he organized his space to work on his project. The change of scenery seemed to motivate him, because after a brief grin at Keith, he hunched over his own laptop and, glancing back and forth between a notebook and his screen, starting building his PowerPoint slides.

Commitment. Keith thought the word again. Yes, they were both only eighteen, but what did that matter? He looked forward to the future. To completing and building their list, because he now thought of it as theirs. Yes, it was a list of things Lance wanted to do with Keith, but after looking at it, Keith knew he wanted to do them with Lance as well. And more.

But he was more than happy right now, feeling loved and blissful, drinking hot chocolate in a warm spot in their own little world, working on their individual projects, but doing it together. Hearing Lance's happy little hums as he ate his muffin or sipped his drink. The soft tapping of his fingers when he typed. The smell of holidays in their noses. The warmth spreading through his body - whether the warmth came from outside, his heart, or both he couldn't decide. He didn't care. He did know it was, as Lance said, cozy.

And that's all that mattered.

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	9. Study Break: The Sleepover

_**Prompts used: All I Want for Christmas is You / Pajamas / Baking Treats**_

* * *

**Study Break - The Sleepover**

"Hunk has the most amazing idea in the whole world," Lance announced dramatically as he thumped his backpack on the table across from Keith.

Keith looked up from his dinner, a plate of chicken nuggets that got a raised eyebrow from Lance. Keith was addicted to the cafeteria chicken nuggets for reasons unexplained to Lance. He thought they were okay, but it's the only thing it seemed Keith ate.

"What's his idea?"

"Keith, my darling boyfriend, it's quesadilla night and you opt for boring chicken nuggets? Again?"

Keith glanced down at the innocent pile waiting on his plate. "Yeah?"

"Why?"

"I've told you this a hundred times. They're good!"

Lance pinched the bridge of his nose. "When I take you home with me someday, I'm going to introduce you to real food. Cuban food, Keith. Food with flavor."

"These have flavor. Especially with the barbecue sauce."

"My abuelita would roll over in her grave to hear that, and she's still alive." He plopped into the chair and reached over to steal a nugget, ignoring Keith's protest. "I don't understand. You're half Korean? Don't you have a better flavor palate?"

"My dad didn't cook that stuff. He wasn't the Korean side."

"Ah, true."

He knew Keith's parents were divorced and Keith grew up with his dad and half-brother, until his dad passed away. It was a strange situation, as Keith's dad raised Keith's brother, even though Shiro wasn't his. He became a father to Shiro when he married Keith's mother, and treated Shiro as his own, especially after Keith's mother took off. Keith had to explain it to a confused Lance when he found out Keith and Shiro had different last names.

"So anyway," Keith said as he dipped another nugget into the little cup of sauce on his tray. "You were saying Hunk had a brilliant idea?"

"Mhm!" Lance hummed with a nod. "A party!"

"A party?"

"But like a small one. Just us and Pidge, Hunk and James," Lance hurried to assure him.

"When?"

"Tomorrow night."

"I don't know, Lance," Keith said, his lips turning down in a frown. "Finals are next week and I really should study."

"You've been studying hard this whole week, Keith," Lance pointed out. "So have I. We need a break and a way to let off some steam. Get our heads back in the game."

"But I've got class the next day. So do you."

"Not till late in the morning. It'll be good for our focus."

"I fail to see how a party can do that..."

"It's not, like a real party. It's a pajama party!"

"Pajama party?"

"We put on pajamas and hang out. Hunk and I came up with a lot of suggestions of things we can do. Probably binge watch something or watch a movie. Nothing crazy. We can go, have fun, and get it out of our system so we can study all weekend."

Keith chewed on his nugget, looking at Lance with a thoughtful expression. Lance decided to stop pushing, because he knew from experience if he pushed Keith too much, he'd say no if for no other reason than to be obstinate. "Somehow I have a feeling you'll find reasons to distract us this weekend too."

Lance laughed. "Maybe. Think about it. I'm gonna go fill a plate. With real food."

Keith rolled his eyes as Lance stood up. Lance grinned at him, took off his coat and draped it over the chair, then headed over to the food counters.

* * *

Lance won, of course, and the next night he waited not so patiently in the dorm for Keith's class to end. Keith had an early afternoon class, while Lance had a late morning class on Thursdays. The night before, they did nothing as Keith decided to spend all night studying and organizing his notes because, as he told Lance, he was losing a whole day to the sleepover.

Keith got a kiss when he walked in, and Lance informed him he already mostly packed Keith's bag and unless Keith needed to add anything to it, they were ready to go. Keith huffed a small laugh and kissed Lance again, a much longer one than the quick peck he received when he walked in. It was enough to stall Lance in his eagerness to leave for Hunk's dorm.

In fact, Lance seriously rethought this whole sleepover thing. It would be nice to continue this lovely kissing thing the rest of the night. If they weren't going to study, why not lie in bed and kiss on each other? It was easy to imagine it with Keith's tongue in his mouth and Keith's hands on his waist.

Seriously tempting.

Unfortunately, he promised Hunk they'd be there. With great reluctance, he pulled away, giving Keith a little pout. "You can't do that."

"What?" Keith asked, all innocence.

"You know, deceiver. You don't want to party, so you're trying to get me to stay here and kiss on you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No-ooo," Lance drawled. "No. It's not, and I kind of want to, but I didn't _kind of _promise Hunk we'd be there. I _did_ promise, and I know he has food for us. You don't want to disappoint Hunk do you?"

Keith shook his head. "No," he said. "Anyone else, maybe, but not Hunk."

"So go freshen up," Lance ordered, ignoring the glare Keith gave him and the little muttering that he was quite clean and didn't need freshening up, "and tell me what you want to wear tomorrow. We can go to class from Hunk's."

* * *

Hunk and James were lucky enough to get one of the new dorm suites. Usually freshmen didn't have access to them – they were for upper classmen. However, the university found structural issues with the dorm originally assigned to Hunk and James, and it was now closed for renovations. Freshmen assigned to it were then placed in the newly finished dorms as a temporary thing for the year. Lance often lamented how unlucky he and Keith were.

The new dorms were set up as apartments, rather than en suites such as Lance and Keith shared. Hunk and James had a living room, small kitchen, and four bedrooms, which they shared with two other roommates. Hunk said one roommate was always at his girlfriends and the other worked overnights on the weekend, so it should just be them.

"Pajamas on," Pidge insisted when she opened the apartment door for Keith and Lance.

"Give us a chance to get in, at least, Pidge!" Lance exclaimed. "I'm not changing out here in the hall!"

She opened the door wider and the boys came inside. Hunk called a greeting over from the small kitchen area. James was on the couch, game controller already in hand, eyes locked on the screen. Sure enough, Pidge, Hunk, and James were all in their pajamas, even though it was only four in the afternoon.

"I'll run into James' room to change," Keith said, lifting his overnight bag.

Lance nodded. "I'll use Hunk's."

"Fuck, you guys live together. Please tell me you don't change in your bathroom."

Keith and Lance looked at each other, cheeks coloring on both of them. "Well, yeah," Keith said.

"Seriously? How do you guys do it then? Blindfolded?" Pidge asked.

"Pidge!" Lance yelled. "None of your business!"

"Pidge," Hunk admonished from the kitchen, though he sounded more amused than anything.

"It's only been a week, Pidge," James spoke up. "They probably haven't don't it yet."

"But they've been living together for months. You're telling me," she said, eyeing the pair above her glasses, "in over three months neither of you gave in to the sexual tension between the two of you?"

"Sexual tension?" Lance squawked.

"Oh god, yes," James said, shaking his head, then swore as his character died on the screen. "It was awful."

"There was no sexual tension!" Lance insisted, sending a pleading look to Hunk.

"Hate to tell you, Buddy, but there was," Hunk said.

"Fuck!"

"I'm gonna change," Keith said again, pointing at James' room. His cheeks were now bright red and he wouldn't meet anyone's eye. Without another word, he disappeared into the room and closed the door.

"Great, now you've embarrassed him," Lance said with a little pout.

"C'mon. I can't believe you guys didn't realize it. You've wanted to bone Keith since almost day one," Pidge said, falling onto the couch next to James and snatching the controller from him.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know he liked me."

"How you didn't know…" Pidge said, trailing off as the theme music kicked in.

Lance huffed, then stalked over to Hunk's room in order to change.

* * *

"What're you up to, Hunky?" Lance asked. Pidge and James were still on the couch, now competing on Mario Kart and yelling at each other. Keith and Lance both took longer than necessary to change into their pajamas. Well, Lance wore real pajamas – red plaid bottoms and a red shirt that read "Santa stops here!". Keith's pajamas consisted of gray sweats and a black t-shirt.

"Thought we could decorate cookies," Hunk said. He fetched a container from the freezer full of cutout cookies. "I baked these yesterday."

"Weren't you studying for your finals?" Keith asked.

"Stress baking helps me," Hunk said. "So I figured I'd make these to relax and leave the decorating to you guys."

"I love this!" Lance said. "What can I do to help?"

With Keith and Lance's help, Hunk loaded the little dining table with bowls of frosting, tubes of icing, sprinkles, colored sugars, and a bunch of other candies they could use in their creativity. Lance moved over to bully Pidge and James into pausing their game to come and decorate with them. James willingly went, while Pidge reluctantly did, complaining the whole way to the table.

"Come on, Pidgeon. It'll be fun!" Lance said brightly as he settled in the chair next to Keith.

"Doubtful," Pidge said, scowling at him. "I'm right-brained, Lance. I'm not creative."

"You just slap frosting on a cookie, Pidge. It's not rocket science."

"Rocket science would be easier," she grumbled.

They settled in and got down to business. Pidge took Lance's suggestion to heart and slapped frosting on her pile of cookies, mixing the frosting colors to make lurid green and black so her cookies ended up looking more like a biohazard than happy Christmas cookies. Keith wasn't much better, but at least he tried to make his cookies resemble the candy cane, reindeer, Santa, and Christmas trees Hunk had cut out. Hunk and James were both perfectionists, and they slowly worked through their pile, meticulously placing each candy, sprinkle, and frosting line in precise order. Theirs looked magazine-worthy.

Lance, of course, went over the top with too much colored frosting, too much colored sugars, and too many sprinkles. The detritus of his work covered his spot on the tabletop – piles of colored sugars got into everything he touched.

"That's worse than glitter," Keith commented, using a hand to brush away stray sugars which were beginning to invade his territory.

"You could use a little glitter in your life, Keith."

"I have you. That's plenty."

Pidge snorted, and Hunk and James laughed outright. Lance looked at him with pouty lips. "I am insulted, sir!"

"It was a compliment," Keith said.

"Didn't sound like it," Pidge argued.

"It was!" Keith insisted.

"Just for that, you owe me!"

Keith shook his head. "I fail to see why, but what do I owe you?"

Lance shrugged. "I'll figure something out."

"Pidge," Hunk said, his tone disappointed. "You literally decorated your gingerbread man with bloody wounds."

"I cut off his arm," she explained. "And gave him a head wound, Hunk."

"What would Baby Jesus think, Pidge?" Lance yelled.

"He'd probably laugh!"

"I doubt it!"

"I think it looks cool," Keith said.

"It's not very Christmassy," Hunk said diffidently. "But it is creative."

* * *

"I don't want to eat them," Lance declared. "They look too pretty!"

"Some of them do," James said. "I don't want to eat Pidge's because they look diseased."

"Yeah, I probably won't give Pidge's out to my class tomorrow, but the rest are good!" Hunk said.

"I'm not even offended," Pidge said with a shrug.

* * *

Lance and Keith cuddled together on the couch. Pidge and Hunk were working together on a Lego Star Wars game on the Wii. James, who had an early class the next day, was already in bed. It was close to midnight and Keith was sleepy – or at least he leaned against Lance, head on Lance's chest. Lance himself lay back against the arm of the couch with his arms around Keith. It wasn't exactly comfortable for him, but at least Keith seemed to be happy.

Lance idly played with his hair as they watched Pidge and Hunk work on destroying the Death Star. Keith dozed. Lance could tell by the way his breathing changed – a more steady rhythm – and the way Keith relaxed. He smiled, dropped a kiss on Keith's head and began humming quietly to his boyfriend.

After a few minutes, Pidge yelled something at the game, Hunk hushed her, and Keith started. Lance kept humming, running his fingers through the strands of Keith's hair. He settled back down, nuzzling his head against Lance's chest in a way that darted straight to Lance's heart. And elsewhere, if he wanted to be completely honest.

"What are you humming?" Keith asked, his voice a low rumble against the noise of the video game.

In response, Lance sang the chorus.

"_I don't want a lot for Christmas,_  
_There's just one thing I need_  
_I don't care about the presents_  
_Underneath the Christmas tree_  
_I just want you for my own_  
_More than you could ever know_  
_Make my wish come true_  
_All I want for Christmas is you"_

As his voice trailed off, he noticed Pidge and Hunk staring at him, the game paused. Keith also tilted his head up to look into his eyes. He blushed, embarrassed the others caught him singing to Keith, but Keith didn't seem to notice. He reached up and touched Lance's cheek gently, barely brushing his fingers over his skin.

"I didn't know you could sing."

"Oh, well. I guess I'm ok."

"That was beautiful," he said. Then his brows drew together. Not in anger, but hesitation. "Do you mean it?"

"What?" Lance asked, noting how Pidge and Hunk quietly got up and left on tiptoes, Hunk to his room, and Pidge to one of the other roommates.

"The song."

"Uh. Well. Yeah." Keith's eyes were strangely intent on him.

"Good," Keith whispered after a long moment. "All I want is you." He stretched up and Lance forgot his uncomfortable position as Keith's lips pressed against his. Warmth shot through him, a heady feeling he hoped wouldn't go away with familiarity. He didn't think it would, but this intimacy with Keith was still new and he bathed in the adrenaline rush of Keith's kisses.

It didn't last long, though, much to his chagrin. Keith smiled lazily at him, then cuddled back down, pulling the fleece throw off the back of the couch onto them. "Are we sleeping here?" Lance asked.

"Mmm…" was the only response.

Lance moved a little, adjusting his position into a little less cramped one. They now practically lay on the couch, Lance on his back and Keith half-draped on him. He kissed the top of Keith's head again and hummed a few more bars of the song.

"You know…" Lance said quietly as he adjusted the blanket to cover Keith to his shoulders. "All I want for Christmas is you. But I won't say 'no' to a present if you get me one."

Keith laughed, a soft and sleepy one. "Same."

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	10. Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

_**Prompts used: Snowman / Snow Angels**_

* * *

**Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?**

Keith sat back in his chair with a sigh. He dropped his pencil onto the desktop so he could reach up and rub at his temples. Math always gave him a headache, and this Calculus exam did exactly that. Numbers swam in front of his eyes from having stared at them for the past two hours.

A quick glance at the clock showed he had approximately forty minutes left of his exam time. He thought he was done – the problems were all solved at least. He left himself plenty of time to check over his work, especially the problems he put a star next to. Those he wasn't sure about, so he figured he would check them first.

He rubbed then at his eyes, crossing and blinking them in order to refocus his sight. The class was quiet, save an occasional cough and one annoying prick on the other side of the room who tapped his pencil as he stared at his paper.

He wondered, briefly, how Lance was faring on his Western Civ exam. He knew Lance worried about performing well on it, in spite of his general love of all things history. His boyfriend spent the entire night cramming, though Keith tried many times to get him to go to bed, reminding Lance that last minute studying like he was didn't actually help.

Can't think of Lance right now, he thought as he picked up his pencil. He smiled, however. It was difficult not to think about Lance. About his smile, his eyes, the way he kissed with happy enthusiasm. Focus, Keith. Focus. Thinking about Lance isn't going to get this exam finished.

He reviewed all of the problems, made a few changes where he was sure he messed up a calculation, and checked all of his answers. He thought he did fairly well, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. The professor announced there was fifteen minutes left for those students left. Many had already taken off once they completed their test.

All right. Staring at it isn't going to make it better. He shut his exam booklet and shoved it to the corner of his desk to show he wasn't cheating. He lifted his messenger bag, packed away his pencils and calculator, looped the strap over his head and shoulder, and stood up. The professor gave him a nod and smile as he accepted Keith's booklet, wished him a happy holiday, and Keith went to the door.

He regretted opening it immediately.

"KEITH!"

He stopped in the doorway, looked over his shoulder at his class, then back out into the hall where Lance stood, his backpack by his feet. He'd spread his hands out as he yelled Keith's name.

"Lance, what are you…"

He didn't have a chance to finish his question. Much to his mortification, Lance belted out in a loud falsetto:

"_Do you wanna build a snowman?  
Come on let's go and play!  
I never see you anymore!  
Come out the door!  
It's like you've gone away!_

_We used to be best boyfriends,  
But now we…uh…still are!  
I wish exams were over!  
Do you wanna build a snowman?  
It doesn't have to be a snowman!"_

His face burned as he heard not only the classmates left in his exam, but also his professor and everyone else out in the hall burst into laughter. Keith's hands shot up to cover his face, and he kicked the door to his classroom shut. "What the hell, Lance!" he yelled, though it was muffled.

In spite of his embarrassment, his blood thrilled to hear the sweet laugh that was exclusively Lance. He couldn't be mad, not with a sound like that in his ears, with the knowledge his boyfriend was happy. Still, he couldn't believe Lance did this, and kept his face hidden even when he felt Lance's arms come around him.

"Oh come on, sourpuss! Don't be embarrassed!"

"How can I not be?"

"Pfft, it's just a serenade for you! Why does that turn your pretty cheeks red? Come on, let me see them! I love when I can do that to you!"

"It's not hard to do, Lance…"

"True enough."

Keith peeked over his hands. People, still chuckling at Lance's antics, moved on. Keith let his hands completely drop to Lance's waist. "I can't believe you."

Lance gave him his best shit-eating grin, then kissed him. "Yes, you can," Lance said, and Keith couldn't argue. "So come on. Let's go build a snowman!"

Keith's mouth dropped open. "You were serious?"

"Yes, of course! Fresh snow last night. There's some people doing it on the quad. I thought we could before all the snow's used up!"

"Lance, we're in the middle of exams," Keith countered. "I have to study."

"Study, schmudy," Lance said, one hand letting go to wave in a careless gesture. "We got all night to study. We've got only a small window for snowman building."

"I have chemistry tomorrow morning. I need to go over my notes…"

"Which you can do tonight," Lance interrupted over him. "Come on, Keith. How often can we build a snowman together?"

"Like, often? There's a few more months of winter, Lance."

"But, sweetheart," and Keith's heart nearly gave out. Lance hadn't used an endearment for him, yet, and it was a low blow because Lance probably knew exactly how weak Keith was for him. He'd called him a grumpy or happy bear a few times, but 'sweetheart' was a whole other level for which Keith wasn't prepared. "Maybe it won't snow again. You never know. Climate change and all that. Like when we reminisce to our grandchildren, we can tell them all about snow and how we built a snowman one time…" he trailed off.

How the fuck did Lance casually do that? Mention grandchildren? They'd been together, what? Just over two weeks? Did he have no idea how quickly he was killing Keith?

"So come on!" Lance continued, unaware of the crisis going on in his boyfriend's heart. Lance let him go, retrieved his backpack, grabbed Keith's hands and dragged him out of the building.

* * *

The quad did have a few people in it, but not as many as Keith expected. He figured everyone must be studying, like he and Lance _should_ be. However, he loved the excited expression on his boyfriend which reminded him of the morning he confessed – the childlike wonder of playing in the snow. Keith loved looking at it through Lance's eyes. It gave him a whole new appreciation of the weather.

They left their bags on a cleared off bench, then went to stand on the edge of the quad. A pristine expanse spread before them. "You're gonna have to teach me, Keith," Lance declared. "I'm a snow virgin, you know."

Keith coughed a bit at the term. "Uh, ok. You just, make balls and roll them until they get bigger."

Lance side-eyed him, a smirk forming on his lips. "Is that what you do?"

"Shit, I mean," Keith sputtered, blushing as Lance started laughing.

"I'm kidding you, silly."

Keith ignored him and bent down to form a decent sized snowball with his hands. "Now we roll it until it's the size you want. You want a big one for the bottom."

Lance pressed his lips together, stifling a laugh. "Ok." He bent down and, watching Keith start rolling the ball across the snow, he copied him.

"Um. Not bad?" Keith said.

"Why is it a question?"

"I didn't mean it to be!"

"It's my first time, Keith. You can't expect it to be perfect!"

Keith's mouth dropped open, allowing a cloud of steam to escape. Lance really needed to stop.

"I personally think my bottom looks good, don't you?" Lance asked, though he gestured to the large, lopsided ball of snow drooping on the ground next to Keith's.

"It does," Keith ground out between clenched teeth. "Now do it again. Only a smaller ball this time."

"Practice makes perfect, Keith," Lance said. "If I keep working on these balls, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it."

How did innocent snowman making turn into Lance firing sexual innuendos to Keith? His cheeks burned as he worked on his snowman's torso. He knew Lance was doing this on purpose. His smile was too sly.

"He's crooked," Lance said, eyeing his snowman, which now had a middle ball, though it was similarly lopsided as the bottom ball. And a chunk of it fell off as he stood contemplating it.

"It's not bad for a first snowman."

"Yours is perfect!" Lance accused.

"I've been building them all my life."

"You're so much more experienced with balls than I am."

"Lance."

"What?"

"Now we do a last one for the head."

"Oh! Good! I couldn't wait to work on the head!"

Jesus H. Christ.

"I think I mounted the head wrong," Lance said, stepping back to look over his work.

Keith pressed his lips together. So help him god.

"It's shaped funny. I mean, I guess all heads are shaped different, but mine kind of bends to the side…"

"I swear to god, if you don't stop…"

Lance turned to him, expression all feigned innocence. "You want me to stop building snowmen?"

"No!"

"You have to be clear, Keith."

Keith merely glared at him.

As Keith didn't say anything, Lance turned back to the snowmen and tilted his head. "We didn't bring a carrot."

"I don't carry carrots with me, Lance," Keith said with a shrug.

"But they don't look complete. They brought some," Lance said, gesturing to the small army of snowmen across the quad.

"If I had known we were going to build snowmen today, I would have got some."

"Aw, you would have done that for me?"

"Well, yeah."

Lance jumped through the snow to him and threw his arms around Keith, knocking him onto the ground. Warm lips covered his, distracting him from the fact his clothes were now getting soaked with the snow. When he got a chance to breathe, he gasped, "What was that for?"

"Cause I've got the best boyfriend ever," Lance bragged, giving him another kiss.

"True," Keith agreed.

Lance laughed, the merry one that filled Keith's own heart with joy. He was about to continue with the kissing thing, for once with no care there were people around to watch. It was nice to be in the cold snow with a warm boyfriend on top of him. But Lance suddenly said, "Keith! Is this how you make a snow angel?"

Keith shook his head. "For me, yeah. You need to be on your back."

"Keith! Trying to get me on my back?"

"No!" In response to the slight frown forming on Lance's lips, he quickly added. "No, not here. You need to be on your back to make a snow angel!"

"Show me."

However, Lance didn't move. He simply lifted up enough to prop his forearms on Keith's chest to gaze down at his boyfriend. Keith stared up at him, noting the amusement in the blue eyes gazing so fondly down at him. He let his arms drop to the sides, then moved them in the sweeping motion to make the wings of the angel.

"I need to move my legs for the robe part."

"Who's stopping you?"

"Yeah, who?"

Keith spread his legs, blushing as Lance gently settled between them. Shit, this was way too intimate for something as innocent as a snow angel. Keith slowly moved his legs out, then in, which in turn caused a certain amount of friction between his and Lance's hips. The intense look Lance fixed on him did little to help things, and he could tell his face was red from much more than the cold. He needed to get Lance off him, or it would be even more embarrassing in a few moments.

As if Lance could sense Keith's limit, he smiled. "Looks easy enough." He carefully got up and flopped onto his back in the snow next to Keith. "Like this?" He copied Keith's movements, giving Keith a moment to collect himself. He sat up, watching Lance and telling his racing heartbeat to slow down before he passed out.

"Look, Keith. They're holding hands!" Lance exclaimed, as he sat up too. Sure enough, there were imprints from their hands in the snow, touching at the mittened fingertips.

Keith smiled, looking up at Lance. "They are."

"I have to add one more thing to my amazing snowman, Keith, to make it perfect." Lance stood, stepped carefully away from his snow angel and returned to his lopsided snowman. Very carefully, on the top part, he poked two holes for eyes, drew two darting down, frowning eyebrows above them, then drew a pouty mouth.

Keith stood next to him, watching curiously. "Nice?"

"It's you, grumpy bear!" Lance said, turning his sly smile to Keith.

Keith frowned, unconsciously mimicking the snowman. It killed the mood Lance had built up in him by lying on top of him in the snow. "Just for that," Keith said, "No cuddles for you tonight."

Keith turned away from Lance, hiding his smile at Lance's gasp, and strode over to where their bags waited on the bench. "Keith!" Lance cried. "You can't do that to me!"

Keith shrugged and shouldered his messenger bag. He certainly wasn't going to deny Lance his cuddles this evening. He wasn't strong enough to withhold from them, now he had the ability to get them whenever he wanted them. Still, he should make Lance suffer a little, and it was nice to make the short walk to their dorm with Lance scrambling behind him, apologizing and begging him to reconsider.

Keith knew he would relent, but he wanted to see what he could get Lance to promise him. Because Lance was making promise after promise to make it up to Keith, and each one got more wild. He knew that Lance knew that he would cave – he could hear the amusement in Lance's pleading, just as he knew Lance could detect his struggles to stop the smile threatening his expression.

Keith loved their dynamic, their give and take, and if he could win a little something extra – Lance was up to a shoulder massage complete with a copious amount of kisses – well, he would. It would be a nice little distraction from his last couple of finals.

"Deal," he said before he opened the door to their dorm building. "If you add to the massage and kisses some help with my Chem notes."

Lance's smile bloomed as if it were a shiny May day instead of a cold December one. "Deal."

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	11. Traditions

_**Prompt used: Tradition**_

* * *

**Traditions**

"So what's Christmas like at your house?" Lance asked curiously. He and Keith lay on the bottom bunk, Keith's bunk. They lay cramped together on the narrow bed, side by side. Lance's impossibly long legs were up in the air, pressing his feet against the bottom of his own bunk. Keith, whose own legs were bent with his feet flat on his mattress, enjoyed the view. He never considered himself a 'leg man' until Lance. Those legs. They just. Mmm.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Lance laughed, giving him a little nudge with his elbow. "What can I expect at the Kogane-Shirogane household next week?"

"Oh. Um. Normal stuff, I guess?" Keith said.

Lance's head turned on the pillow towards him. "What's normal?"

"Oh, you know. Open presents Santa brought. Uh…" Why was it so hard to think of anything? Did they have traditions? He thought they did. There were things they did every year, but were they really traditions? And didn't everyone do them?

"We don't do Santa," Lance said, looking back up at the bottom of his bed.

"You don't have Santa?" Keith asked, taking his turn to let his head fall to the side to stare at Lance.

"Nope. I mean, I guess he's part of it, but not a big deal."

"Who brings the gifts?"

"Uh. Family does. I mean, everyone arrives with gifts and stuff. I grew up seeing this Santa stuff on TV and movies, but we never really used him."

"Why not?"

"Mamá said it wasn't a thing in Cuba."

Keith hadn't thought of that. He knew people had different traditions. Some open gifts on Christmas Eve and some on Christmas Day. But he didn't really think the celebrations would be vastly different. "So what kind of traditions does your family do? What's Christmas like in your home?"

The way Lance's face transformed in the soft glow of the Christmas light strands hung around their room brought that warm and fuzzy feeling deep in the pit of Keith's full stomach. To celebrate end of finals, Keith and Lance gorged on Christmas cookies Hunk made while stress baking during exams. Snickerdoodles and thumbprint kiss cookies swam in their guts – hence why they now lay on their backs in bed.

"Lots of food and dancing and family and friends and churchy stuff," Lance replied, his voice taking on a tone that spoke of love, but with a hint of sadness.

"Sounds nice."

"It is. Family is the biggest part. I think it's why I'm so upset I'm missing out."

Keith reached to take Lance's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

"Oh don't be!" Lance exclaimed, turning his head again so they were looking eye to eye. "I mean, I appreciate it, but I'm ok, really. I'm happy I can go home with you!"

Keith smiled. "I'm glad you're coming home with me," he said, a little shyly.

Lance lifted their joined hands to his lips and placed a kiss on Keith's knuckles. "So do you and Shiro do anything special?"

"Dad used to make a big deal of it. The tree and all that. Shiro tries. Before I came here, we'd go and pick out a tree, bring it home, and decorate it. Hang stockings on the wall; we don't have a fireplace."

"When do you open gifts?"

"In the morning on Christmas Day," Keith said. "Cause Santa came at night and left gifts. I used to put cookies and milk out for him, and carrots for the reindeer." He laughed, his tone fond from the memory, "I used to get so excited to see them gone in the morning."

Lance was smiling at him. "It sounds so nice."

"It was. I already knew the truth by the time dad died, so Shiro didn't have to go through all that." Keith thought for a moment, then said, "I don't know that we do much else. We always have tacos for some reason on Christmas Day. Not really sure why. That's what I always remember."

"Doesn't sound Christmassy," Lance teased.

"I know. It's what we always did though. What does your family eat on Christmas?"

"Well, leftovers mostly. Our big celebration is Noche Buena. Christmas Eve."

"It is? We usually play cards or games on Christmas Eve."

"We have a big party. Everyone gathers together at someone's house, usually ours, and Mamá and my Tia's make a ton of food. Literally a ton, because there's so many of us. We eat and dance all night practically. The kids are allowed to stay up. Food for miles, it seems. A bunch of us can play or sing, so we do. Or we dance. A few of my cousins are professional DJ's, too, so they play music. It's basically just a day to be joyful."

"It sounds so amazing," Keith said in a wistful tone. He'd never had anything like that. His family celebration was quiet and subdued. Loving, to be sure, but he wouldn't necessarily call it joyful.

"Cubans take parties seriously, Keith," Lance explained. "Christmas Day is less fun, as far as celebrating goes. It's more for church stuff. We go to church most of the day and focus more on the religious part of the holiday. Christmas is a whole different level for Cubans, though. It's two weeks of celebrating, technically, because it ends on Three Kings Day in January. I'll be home for that," he added.

"Three Kings Day?"

"The day the Magi delivered the gifts to Baby Jesus. We give gifts and have another big party."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow!" He was quiet, poking his toes through the bedsprings above him into the underside of his mattress. "I'm looking forward to being at your house, but I am going to miss the food."

"Don't worry. We'll feed you."

Lance chuckled, giving his hand another squeeze. "I don't doubt it."

"What kind of food does your family eat? Not tacos, I assume?"

"Nope. Let's see," he let go of Keith's hand to lift his in order to tick each thing off a finger. "Roasted pork, but we do a whole pig in a pit in the backyard. And yeah, we have a roasting pit in our backyard. Black beans and rice, fried plantains, Cuban bread, yucca, and miles of desserts. Keith, you haven't lived until you've had my Mamá's flan or Tia Rosita's rum cake. I can't wait to stuff you full of good stuff when we're home."

Keith eyed him, eyebrow raised. Lance realized his innocent innuendo and blushed. "You know what I mean."

"All this talk of food is making me hungry," Keith said.

"Like, how?" Lance asked, dropping his legs in order to turn on his side and gaze at Keith. "You're full of cookies."

"I'm a growing boy."

"Mmm. I bet you are," Lance said. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Pick a Christmas movie we can watch when I get back."

"We have to leave early tomorrow," Keith said, propping himself up on his elbows. "We can't stay up too late."

"We won't. One quick movie," Lance begged, then gave Keith a little peck before wriggling over him to slide off the bed.

Keith reached for his laptop as the bathroom door shut and opened it to browse through Netflix. Before he picked something, though, he sent a quick text to Shiro:

**Keith**: _You there?_

**Shiro**: Yeah, what's up?

**Keith**: _Hey, can we have a nice dinner on Christmas Eve?_

**Shiro**: Of course. Why?

**Keith**: _It's what Lance's family does_

**Keith**: _I want him to have a Christmas kind of like he does at home._

**Shiro**: OMG Adam and I are squealing. That's so sweet.

**Keith**: _Fuck you both_

**Shiro**: LOL

**Keith**: _I'm gonna send you some dishes to try and make. Or for Adam to make. You need to stay away from the kitchen_

**Shiro**: I'm hurt

**Keith**: _Just trying to keep the house safe _

**Keith**: _And download some Cuban music too_

**Shiro**: Sure thing. Can't wait to see you tomorrow

**Keith**: _Same. Thanks_

He tossed his phone aside as Lance came out of the bathroom. He smiled up at his boyfriend. "How does _"It's a Wonderful Life_" sound?"

"Sounds perfect to me!"

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	12. Coming Home

_**Prompts used: Tree / Mistletoe / Home**_

* * *

**Coming Home**

Keith was nervous.

To be fair, he'd brought this situation upon himself.

And he was excited. No doubt about it, but he was also nervous.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel of his beat up, ancient Beetle. Not a new Beetle, but one from the sixties he and Shiro fixed up. The heater kind of worked? Sometimes. Today was a good day. In fact, was it overheating? Or was it Keith's nerves making him sweat?

He figured nerves, because Lance looked comfortable in the passenger seat next to him. He wore a smile on his face, anyway, and remained bundled up in his puffy jacket and hand-knitted hat he'd made for himself. So it wasn't too hot in the car. Nor was it too cold. It was just Keith.

Lance eagerly watched the scenery, humming along to the song on the radio. The Bug didn't have a good stereo system, so they had to old school it for the two hour ride northeast to Keith's home from their college.

"It's so much more rural here!" Lance exclaimed.

"Yeah. Not too many big cities up here. A couple of decent sized ones, but nothing big. Our town is small."

"That's cool. I mean, Big Rapids is kind of small too. I like it. I'm so used to the bigness of Miami."

"Nothing like Miami here," Keith said, laughing.

"You mean I can't go surfing this week?" Lance asked, turning his eyes to Keith. They sparkled with his amusement.

Keith spoke around his suddenly dry mouth. "Uh no. I mean, you can try, but I wouldn't suggest it."

Another silence fell as Lance turned his attention to the forest flashing by the car. Keith didn't find the endless trees fascinating, but he realized Lance probably didn't get to see this much, and it was quite different from Florida.

"I love all these trees," Lance said, his voice soft enough that Keith turned the radio down.

"What?"

"The trees. I love them. You're so lucky to grow up here."

"I guess," Keith said. "It is nice for camping and hiking, for sure."

"I love the beach and all, but it's crowded in Miami. It's not as bad in Cuba when we've been able to visit my abuelita. I like it there better. But there's something so calming about all these woods."

Keith never thought about it that way. Never really thought about the trees at all, to be honest. He liked them. He climbed them a lot as a kid. Loved playing out in the forest behind his house, pretending he was a pioneer from the old days, stalking prey to bring home to his family. The walks with his dad to collect sap from maple trees they had tapped in order to make their own syrup and maple sugar.

"We have about ten acres," Keith said. "If the snow's not too bad, we can take a walk back in the woods."

"Really?" Lance breathed. "I love the sound of that Keef."

An unbidden smile came to his lips. Lance had used the nickname this morning and a few times since they left their dorm. He liked it; it gave him more of that fuzzy feeling in his brain when Lance said it. He hadn't commented on it yet, and wasn't sure if Lance was waiting for him to. He decided not to mention it, even as he racked his poor brain for something endearing to call Lance. He guessed they were at that point already.

As he had done with snow and winter, Lance was giving Keith a new look at his world through Lance's eyes. He considered the drive home boring when he had to make it. Now, however? He could see the beauty of the evergreens lining the road, interspersed with bare trees, the ground under the trees drifted over with snow. It was beautiful.

Lance's humming stopped. "So it's just gonna be us and Shiro and his boyfriend?"

"Yep. Unless Shiro invites anyone, but he usually doesn't."

"What's the deal with his boyfriend? They serious?"

"Yeah. Been together a couple of years, so far. They met in Shiro's last year at school and started dating."

"Do they live together?"

"No. Adam actually lives in Arizona. That's where he's from, and he moved back after graduation. I think he's looking for work up here though. I'm sure he'll move up here eventually."

"Do you like him? I know you said he's nice and all, but do you honestly like him?"

"Oh, yeah! I do. He's perfect for Shiro and has always treated me really great. I haven't seen him a lot. Shiro and he went to Michigan State, so they only came up a couple of times before graduation. I went down one weekend too. I mean, they were all gross, of course…"

"Like us?" Lance interrupted.

Keith stopped talking, his mouth dropped open a little. Shit, he was as gross as Shiro and Adam were. Ugh. But it didn't feel gross when he and Lance did lovey-dovey romantic stuff. Dammit. "Yeah, like us," he said grudgingly.

Lance laughed and reached over to pat Keith on his thigh, but didn't comment further.

* * *

"What the…" Keith gasped after he turned into the long driveway leading to the modest house in which Keith grew up.

"What's wrong?" Lance asked, leaning forward eagerly for this first glimpse of Keith's home.

"There's. There's," Keith stammered, as the car slowly came to a stop at the side of the house. "Decorations."

Lance peered out the side window, fingertips pressed against the glass. His breath fogged the surface a little. "There's a lot."

"More than normal," Keith said, then shut off the car. "Shiro usually puts a string of lights along the gutter. This. This is new."

The single string of lights Shiro usually put up had morphed into several strands on every surface and tree available. Keith couldn't wait to see how awful it looked when they turned on. For the moment, they were off as it was only noon. The noticeable difference was the multiple inflatables in the front yard, including a huge snow globe with fake snow whipping around the inside in a snow flurry. Large plastic candy canes lined the edge of the walkway leading to the door, which was graced with a huge wreath.

"Wow, you didn't say you get this into it!" Lance exclaimed.

"We don't. I don't know what this is."

They got out of the car, retrieved their bags from the backseat, and by the time they turned to the house, the door at the side of the house swung open revealing Keith's brother – all smiles and dressed in a monstrosity of a red Christmas sweater and wearing a Santa hat. What the hell was going on?

"Keith!" Shiro yelled, jumping onto the side porch and stomped down the stairs to gather Keith into a big bear hug.

"Oof!" Keith gasped. "Don't break me, Shiro!"

Shiro let him go and turned to Lance. "You must be Lance," he said, holding out his hand.

"I am! Lance McClain, if Keith didn't tell you."

"Welcome to our home, Lance. I'm happy you could come with Keith."

"Thank you so much for inviting me!"

"And you have to tell me what the deal is with this..." Keith said, gesturing to their front yard.

"Oh. Yeah. That." Shiro rubbed at the back of his neck, giving Keith a sheepish look. "Adam did it. Or, he suggested it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I mean, it sounded nice when he talked about it. Most of this he shipped out from Arizona."

"He shipped this all?" Keith asked.

"Um. Yeah. About that."

"Shiro, what?"

"Let's go inside. It's too chilly out here. Lance, let me take your bag, since Keith isn't being a gentleman."

"Hey!" Keith objected.

"Well I wasn't going to say anything," Lance teased, handing over his bag to Shiro. "I guess I got the discourteous brother, huh?"

"That you did," Shiro agreed, turning to lead the way into the house.

"Uh, I'm right here."

The house was warm and inviting. Delicious smells assaulted their nostrils. It was almost too much, to be honest. Spices, cinnamon, cloves, pine, oregano, basil - it all mixed up to bombard the nose, just as the decorations inside bombarded Keith's eyes. It was. Wow. Christmas decorations covered every surface. Garland, lights, snowmen, Santas, penguins, everything one could conceive. The reds, greens, golds, and silvers clashed in a chaotic order that almost made sense.

There was already a tree in front of the window, which was where they normally placed it, but this one was huge. Much bigger than they normally got for themselves. It had to have thousands of twinkling lights, and it looked as if a few packages of tinsel exploded on it. Their normal ornaments were hanging, but there were additional new ones. Throw rugs with Christmas themes, new red and gold curtains, and Christmas blankets completed the new look of their living room.

"Shiro, what the honest fuck? It looks like Bronner's threw up in here!" Keith said faintly.

"Um, you like it? Adam decorated!"

"It's. Very Christmassy."

"I like it!" Lance said.

"Don't lie," Keith said, turning to him.

"I'm not, Keith!"

"Keith!"

They turned toward the entrance to the kitchen at the new voice. "Adam!" Keith said, then was surprised when Adam bounded over to him for a hug. He didn't exactly not welcome it, but it was strange.

"Welcome home! I'm so glad you made it safe. And is this the boyfriend?" he asked, smiling at Lance.

"Uh, yeah. Adam, this is Lance. Lance, Adam."

Keith expected them to shake hands, but Adam wasn't about to let it go at that. He grabbed Lance for a hug and squeezed him tight.

"Did Shiro tell you the big news?" Adam asked when he finally released Lance.

"No-ooo," Keith drawled, glancing at Shiro, who suddenly looked more nervous than before. "The thing is, Keith. Adam found a job. Here. Over in Tawas."

"Really Adam?" Keith exclaimed. He was happy, because he knew how hard Adam was working on trying to relocate to be closer to Shiro. "That's awesome!"

"Thanks Keith!"

"So, I hope you don't mind," Shiro waffled, looking anxiously at Keith. "I asked Adam to move in."

Keith blinked a couple of times. Did he mind? No. Not really. He genuinely liked Adam, of course. He made Shiro happy, anyway. But this was their home. His and Shiro's. Was he ready to share it? But he didn't really live here anymore.

"Wow! That's a big step," he said slowly, glancing at Lance. Lance returned his look with a sympathetic one. "No. No, I don't mind."

Both Shiro and Adam looked relieved. Keith supposed the transformation of their home was Adam's doing. Shiro would have never done this much for the holiday. The awkward silence that settled on the room was broken when Adam said, "Are you boys hungry? I have some snacks set out in the kitchen. Only don't eat too much before dinner!"

"You made us dinner?" Lance asked, easily falling into step beside Adam as the two ventured into the kitchen. "That's so nice of you."

Shiro, who hadn't moved, looked at Keith who also stood there as if rooted to the spot. He couldn't take in all the details of the room; it was so overwhelming.

"Sorry I didn't ask you first. It kind of happened fast. We talked about it when I was in Arizona, but he insisted on waiting until he found work. Adam found out last week about the job, and I impulsively asked him to move in. He decided to move all his stuff when he came for this visit. I know I should have talked to you first..."

"It's ok, Shiro. Really." Keith almost sounded convinced himself.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Keith said. "I mean, it's a big change, but I'm not really home now and will be at college for a few more years. It's ok."

"This is always your home, Keith, whether you're here or not." Shiro drew in a deep breath, glanced at the kitchen where they could see Lance and Adam talking animatedly over some appetizers, then looked back at Keith. "I'm gonna propose on Christmas," he said in a whisper.

Another huge change, and one he should have seen coming. "Wow."

"I know, I know. I should have talked to you," Shiro groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

"No, Shiro. I'm happy for you!" Keith assured him, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Adam's a great guy and he makes you really happy."

Shiro peeked over his fingers. "Thanks, Keith. I mean it. You've always been great about Adam and he really likes you."

"Get your butts in here!" Adam called.

* * *

"Mistletoe!" Adam sang, pointing above Keith and Lance's head.

Keith glanced up. Sure enough, a stalk of plastic greenery hung from the ceiling fan in the living room. A ceiling fan he happened to be standing under with Lance. It was evening, bellies were full of the delicious tikka masala Adam whipped up for dinner, and in spite of Keith and Lance being underage, they each held a glass of spiked eggnog in hand.

"It's the law, Keef," Lance remarked with a shrug. Keith blushed as Lance bent to kiss him. He was embarrassed to do it in front of his brother and Adam. Shit, the grins on their faces he saw when Lance pulled away.

"Yeah yeah," Keith mumbled.

"Aw they are the cutest, Shiro! Aren't they?" Adam gushed.

"Stop it," Keith growled, then dragged Lance to the couch.

"So I know you're roommates and all, but I have to be the responsible older brother here and put Lance into the spare room. No sneaking into each other's rooms in the middle of the night," Shiro said, putting on his best lecture mode. "You can wait until you're back in the dorm."

"Oh my god, Shiro!" Keith yelled.

"Shiro," Adam said in a disappointed voice.

"No, Adam. I don't want to be kept awake all night…"

"Honey, if that's the case, then you get none of this," Adam said, pausing to gesture at himself, "until they leave. We have to be courteous, too."

Shiro's mouth dropped open, then he snapped it shut as Lance and Keith started laughing. He frowned. "Ok. Sneak if you must, but I still insist on separate rooms."

"I expected it, Shiro," Lance spoke up. "It's ok. Keith and I haven't even done anything yet, anyway, so you don't have to worry."

"Lance!" Keith yelled.

"Sweetheart, you're yelling so much today," Lance said, patting him on the arm.

"Oh my god."

* * *

The rest of the night was pretty mellow. They drank eggnog and all four got slightly buzzed on it and the rum balls Adam made. Keith still couldn't quite acclimate to the sudden transformation of his home. He and Lance were constantly caught under mistletoe, which Adam apparently strung up all over the house, including the bathroom door. Giving Lance a kiss before closing the door to the bathroom was a little ridiculous.

"How you feeling?" Lance asked him as he relaxed on Lance's bed in the spare room. He wanted a little time alone with his boyfriend before they went to bed.

Keith glanced at him, a little surprised at the question. "Good?" he said. Lance hummed as he shut the drawer to the dresser where he put his unpacked clothes. "What's the hum for?" Keith asked suspiciously.

Lance shrugged as he crossed the room and sat on the bed next to Keith, causing the old bed to sag a little so that Keith leaned into him. "I just want to be sure you're okay."

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"There's a lot of change here," Lance explained, gesturing vaguely around to indicate the whole house. "I could see your eyes getting a little wild as you took it all in."

"Was I obvious?"

"To me, yeah."

Keith sighed and laid back on the bed, throwing his arms over his head. Lance followed suit, joining his hand with Keith's above their heads. They lay there, silent, for a few minutes until Lance laughed. "What?"

With his free hand, Lance pointed upward. Above the bed hung another spring of mistletoe. "Looks like Adam was thinking ahead."

Keith laughed too. "I wonder if Shiro knows about that one."

"Probably not."

"It's a lot to adjust to," Keith said suddenly. "Everything is different. Everything is changing. I almost feel like it's not my home anymore." He was embarrassed at how choked up he sounded.

"Hey," Lance said, turning toward him, his free hand resting on Keith's chest. Keith looked at him, drowning in the sympathetic eyes watching him. Lance's hand reached up to caress his face. "I know it seems like it, but it's not true. This is your home."

"It doesn't look like it."

"Everything changes Keith. It's not necessarily a bad thing." Lance thought for a moment, his fingers resting lightly on his cheek. "I know it has to be hard to see changes, especially unexpected."

"But?"

"There's no but, sweetheart. It's a fact."

"That's not comforting."

"I don't know what to say that's comforting. Things change. It's a part of life. I know your feelings are valid. I don't know how I'd feel if I went home and saw a bunch of changes. Same as you, I'd imagine. I guess….I guess the important thing is accepting it."

"I don't want to," Keith said, a little petulantly. He realized how selfish it sounded.

"Of course not," Lance teased, giving him a little smile. "I know what a stubborn little bear you are."

Keith snorted.

"My grouchy, stubborn, cute little bear," Lance chanted, tapping Keith's cheek.

Keith finally huffed out a weak laugh. "Stop."

"Are you happy for Shiro?" Lance asked.

"Stupidly happy for him."

"That's all that matters, isn't it?"

"It is," Keith agreed. "And I don't mind the changes. It's just getting used to it."

"That's the spirit, grumpy bear," Lance murmured. He moved his hand to Keith's waist, grabbing on and pulling until Keith turned on the bed so they were facing each other. Their other hands were still joined above their head on the bed. "Now," Lance added, jerking his head toward the ceiling and the innocent mistletoe. "It's the law."

Keith smiled, grateful for the amazing man lying next to him. Someone who understood him and didn't lecture him about his feelings. Who validated his feelings, and showed him it was okay to feel a little angry at the changes. Who may not know what to say, but showed Keith he would listen. It meant more than anything did to him.

"Well, I'm not one to break the law," Keith agreed, closing their distance to latch eagerly onto those smiling lips. Changes were hard, but some changes were good. And Lance was the best change to come into his life and he was going to savor every moment of it.

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	13. Dance With Me on Christmas Eve

**Prompts used: Dance / Celebration**

* * *

**Dance With Me on Christmas Eve**

"A party?" Keith asked, his lips drawing down into a frown.

"A few friends from college," Shiro assured him. "And a few friends from high school. My high school friends haven't met Adam yet, and I want them to."

"Still. Maybe Lance and I can find something to do."

"I'd really like it if you could be there."

"You know I hate parties."

"I know, but this isn't a big deal. Just friends. Some games. That kind of stuff."

Keith sighed, feeling his agitation rise. Shiro knew he hated social gatherings, but he also knew Lance would love it. Keith wanted to give Lance a good Christmas, and if it meant fun and party then he would do it. "Let me see what Lance says," he told Shiro, whose expression brightened. "If he's ok spending Christmas Eve with strangers when he's used to spending it with family, I'll be ok with it."

* * *

"But you don't like parties," Lance objected when Keith broached the subject to him. They were walking through the woods behind Keith's home, trudging through the snow and taking turns being the one to break the path. The snow reached up to their thighs and the going was slow, but the woods enchanted Lance, who in turn enchanted Keith.

"No, I know. But it shouldn't be a big one. At least that's what Shiro said. Besides, it'll be more like what you told me your family does. Though I'm sure not as fun."

Lance laughed, turning around as he stopped to look at Keith. Keith's breath caught a moment at Lance's flushed cheeks and bright smile. He could not get used to this and didn't really want to. He loved the feeling in his stomach every time he caught Lance looking at him like that.

"I'm sure it'll be fun, Keith. I like your brother and Adam."

"They like you, too," Keith said.

They did. Shiro told him this morning, before the talk of the party, that he and Adam thought Lance was great. So polite, funny, nice, caring and obviously in love with Keith. It was a relief to Keith. While he wasn't too worried about Lance making a good impression, to know he did gave him a certain amount of satisfaction.

"I'm very likeable," Lance teased. "And I think it's your turn. My legs are getting tired. I don't know how you grew up in this."

"Well, usually we had enough sense to stay inside when it snowed."

"Nuh-uh. Shiro told me you two were all over the woods no matter the season," Lance said, shaking a finger at Keith. "You can't fool me."

Keith edged past his boyfriend to take over the lead. It was a nice walk, mostly to point out places from his childhood memory: where they built a treehouse (the remnants still remained, though Keith refused to climb up to the rickety structure) – where he and a friend were attacked by ground bees after walking across the nest – the best spot for wading in the small stream that wandered through the woods to empty into a pond at the edge of the property – where Keith found a rabbit one year lying beside a fallen tree with a wound on it's leg (he nursed it to health and kept it as a pet for years until 'Bun' died of old age). Lance ate up every story, listening in that eager way he did whenever Keith opened up.

"It's so quiet here," Lance said, his voice as quiet as the woods.

"I think it's one of the reasons I like it so much," Keith said.

"I can totally picture you being a hermit in the woods."

Keith chuckled. "Yeah. But I don't think I would. I'm not fond of crowds, but I don't think I'd like complete isolation."

Lance hummed. "I don't know, Keef. Maybe a little cabin in the woods, a nice fire, a couple of dogs, and a good-looking husband to cuddle up to? Doesn't sound bad."

Keith's breath caught again at the mental image, because of course he immediately pictured him and Lance in that scenario. A roaring fire, curled up under a blanket in front of it, possibly lying down and…shit he could feel his cheeks starting to burn again. He cleared his throat. "No, not bad. Sounds perfect to me," he managed to say.

* * *

In spite of Lance's offers to help set up for the party, Adam refused and made Keith take Lance out of the house. Keith could tell Lance, who always wanted to help with everything, was put out by the summary dismissal, but Keith also knew it was part of the surprise for Lance. Adam planned to attempt cooking some of the traditional meals Lance mentioned from his family celebrations, adding to Adam and Shiro's traditional items. To Keith, the menu looked like a chaotic mess of American, Cuban, Indian, Japanese, and Korean dishes. At least everyone at the party should find something they liked to eat.

Keith took Lance to the nearby town of Tawas, which sat on Lake Huron, for the day. It wasn't a big town, but there were a few interesting things to do. They enjoyed a late breakfast/early lunch, walked on the public beach near The Point, checked out the lighthouse, and checked out some of the shops downtown. The little beach town enthralled Lance, who chastised Keith for not bringing him here in the fall when the trees had to look spectacular, or when the weather was nice, because the beach looked like a great place to cool off. Keith promised to bring Lance back whenever he wanted, especially in the summer when swimming could be on the list of plans.

Which, when Lance enthusiastically agreed, got Keith's heart to skip a beat. That meant they both thought along the lines of staying together until then. The unbidden image of the two of them cozy in a little cabin jumped into his mind again.

Shiro told them to be back around four, as the party guests had invites for five. It would give both Lance and Keith time to get ready ("and get our ugly Christmas sweaters, Keef!"). They walked to Keith's Beetle a little before four, Lance clinging to his arm.

"I love your home, Keef. I can't thank you enough for bringing me."

Keith smiled, then blushed at the little kiss Lance planted on his cheek. "I'm happy you're here," Keith said, somewhat shyly.

* * *

The smells that blanketed them when they walked in this time were more overpowering than before. Keith couldn't isolate one specific scent. He knew Adam loved to entertain – Shiro had told him about the family celebration in Arizona which included what seemed to Shiro every relative, friend, or person Adam and his family ever brushed up against. Shiro, who was used to the more sedate and family-only (meaning him, their Dad, and Keith) celebrations, was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people the Wright-Kohli's were able to squeeze into their home on Thanksgiving.

Adam inherited his love of big parties honestly from his parents, who were softhearted people who invited everyone they knew or vaguely knew to their parties. Adam did the same, though Shiro was able to curtail his overzealous boyfriend to agreeing on a handful of people for Christmas. Keith was grateful, because he thought he would die if it were something like the holiday meal Shiro attended a month prior.

He did realize, however, it sounded similar to what Lance described as his family Christmas, so if Keith were ever invited to the McClain family fête, he knew it would be a little much for him. Keith vowed to try his best this evening to not panic and hopefully get used to the crush of people.

"Is this…is this roasted pork?" Lance gasped. They had wandered into the kitchen where Adam was lifting something out of a large crock-pot to put on a cutting board.

"It is. I'm not sure how your family serves it, Lance, but I thought making it into pulled pork would work. Good for a buffet, you think? People can make it into sandwiches or have it plain."

Lance stared at Adam for a few minutes as he ignored Lance and concentrated on shredding it. Keith covered his mouth as Lance's dropped open and snapped shut a few times. "Uh. Yeah. We usually pull it too," he said, then glanced at Keith. "Did you do this?"

"You know I can't cook."

"Keith asked us to make a couple of dishes your family likes to have, Lance," Shiro remarked as he came in on the conversation. He draped his arm around Lance's shoulders. "Adam made pulled pork, some beans and rice, and a flan. Sorry we couldn't do all of it, but Adam wanted to make something from all our cultures."

Keith felt self-conscious as Lance's eyes turned to him, wide and filling with tears. Lance blinked a few times and he sucked his lips in, pressing them together to control himself. Keith tried to play it off as not a big deal, though he knew it was to Lance. He shrugged. "I just suggested it."

Shiro gave Lance a squeeze, then let him go to join Adam, who shooed him away with threats and a wave of the large fork in his hand. "I swear if you touch a thing, Kashi, I will stick this fork in you."

"Thank you," Lance whispered, closing the distance between them so he could hug Keith. "That means everything in the world to me."

With Lance's chin hooked over his shoulder, Lance's hair tickling the skin of his face, and a slight tear-dampness spreading over the collar of his shirt, Keith smiled as his arms encircled Lance's waist. "You're welcome," he said simply.

* * *

The party wasn't. Bad. Keith had fun, because Lance had fun. Shiro's high school friends were all people Keith remembered. Not really well, but he remembered them. Being shy and introverted, he usually hid in his room when Shiro's friends came over. Which was a lot, considering Shiro was insanely popular at school. They were a good group of people, an interesting mix of personalities who shared the same sense of humor. Keith somewhat regretted not getting to know them all those years ago. Granted, the age gap back then was more pronounced than it was now.

The college friends who joined the gang merged well into Shiro's existing friend group, and by the end of the evening, all were solid and fast friends. Keith managed to handle his social anxiety enough to feel a part of the celebration, which gave Lance the opportunity to charm and entertain everyone.

It was amazing to see Lance in his element; socializing was a specialty of his which Keith always envied. The effortless way he approached and talked to people was, quite frankly, mesmerizing. He never seemed to feel shy, always knew the right things to say, always had a witty comeback, and could swing from conversational topic to conversational topic with ease. Keith watched with awe as Lance discussed the latest Star Wars movie, which they had gone to see the first weekend of its' release, with one group, then immediately switched to the state of Cuban politics with another. It boggled Keith's mind and all he could do was follow his little butterfly as he owned the room.

The food was, hands down, the best part of the celebration. Adam, who should have majored in the culinary arts instead of marketing, somehow managed to provide dozens of dishes all on time. He set the last platter down, took off his apron, disappeared into the bathroom to 'freshen up', and was out in the living room in time to welcome the first guest – all without looking as if he'd spent the last ten hours whipping around the kitchen like a mini tornado.

Lance's shout when the music started got everyone laughing. Shiro came through on his promise to download some lively Cuban music, so when he plugged in his phone to play it Lance came alive even more than he already was.

"Was this your doing, too?" he shouted at Keith. They watched a bunch of Shiro and Adam's friends attempt dancing in the middle of the living room. Lance himself was shuffling his feet slightly, his whole body vibrating with the need to dance.

"I suggested it," Keith admitted.

"You're the absolute best, Keef!" Lance exclaimed, then turned to him, holding out both hands and taking Keith's. "Come on! Dance with me!"

Keith pulled back a little, though it only made Lance grip his hands tighter. "I-I don't know how to dance."

"It doesn't matter!" Lance yelled, his eyes bright as he gave Keith the expression he knew Keith couldn't deny. His smile popped out as he sensed Keith's resistance disappear, and he dragged Keith a few steps closer to the other dancers.

"Just follow my feet! It doesn't have to be perfect!"

Lance led him in a half-assed salsa dance. Half-assed on his part, because Lance was, of course, graceful and skilled in dancing. Keith did try to follow his feet, but he concentrated more on the way Lance's hips swung back and forth. It may have been the rum balls and spiked punch, but Keith danced as he'd never danced before. Lance spun him around, pushed and pulled him in every direction. He laughed and let Lance manhandle him in a way that made him feel free. Lance danced close, holding on to him, making Keith's own hips sway – and the touches, the caresses, the music matching his beating heart, made Keith's head swim in the best way. Lance completely enamored him.

* * *

"Merry Christmas!"

The last shouts faded, as did the laughter, from the last two guests who waved before piling into their car. Shiro, Adam, Keith, and Lance waved back from the front door, all smiles, until they backed in the warmth of the house so Shiro could shut the door.

"Holy shit," Keith breathed out.

"Language, Keef! It's Jesus' birthday!" Lance objected. For indeed, it was after midnight and Christmas was here.

"Sorry," Keith apologized without any real feeling behind it. He was happy, but a little numb from the party. His head still swum from the little bit of alcohol he'd had and from the hot dancing he did with Lance, culminating in a slow and sultry slow dance that made his heart explode, his skin catch fire, and forced him outside afterwards for a breath of cold air to cool him down.

The four tiredly went through the motions of picking up everything. It surprisingly took little time, as before many of the guests left, there was a collective push to help the hosts in cleaning up the house. At least most of the food was packed up and stored in the freezer or fridge. All that remained for them was to pick up remaining trash and pack away the cookies and desserts.

"I hope I came near your family's food, Lance," Adam said, pushing his glasses up. They kept slipping down, Keith noticed.

"It was great, Adam. I can't thank you enough!" Lance said brightly. "And I'll make sure not to tell Tia Maria that your flan outdoes hers."

"Please don't get me in trouble with Tia Maria!" Adam pleaded.

"It was a wonderful spread of food," Keith said. "I can't believe you did all this by yourself."

"I helped," Shiro objected as he put a new trash bag in the trashcan.

"Yes, you did. You stayed out of my way, Kashi. I appreciated that more than anything."

Shiro pouted as the other two laughed.

"Alright, if you want to stay on the good boys list, you'd better get off to bed," Adam said, pointing first at Keith, then at Lance. "Santa won't stop if little boys are still awake."

Keith rolled his eyes, shutting the fridge door. "We're eighteen, Adam."

"Uh uh uh," he scolded. "Off to bed. Age doesn't matter to Santa."

"We don't argue with Santa, Keef," Lance said. "I'm exhausted anyway."

They said their goodnights and headed off to the hallway that led to the bedrooms. They paused outside of Lance's room. They could still hear Adam and Shiro talking in the kitchen, and the dim light gave them a feeling of intimacy and privacy. Lance snaked his arms around Keith's shoulders and Keith automatically lifted his hands to Lance's hips.

"It was amazing dancing with you, sweetheart," Lance said. "You're a better dancer than you give yourself credit for."

"It was pretty much my first time," Keith admitted.

"I hope you're this good at all your first times."

Keith's cheeks caught fire and he hid his face in Lance's shoulder with a groan. He felt, more than heard, Lance's chuckles. Evil chuckles, he decided. "That was uncalled for," he said, voice muffled by Lance's sweater.

"I know, Cariño," Lance purred into his hair, his voice sweet as honey. Lance's arms loosened enough to allow one hand to lift up and play with the hair at Keith's nape. "I'd invite you in for some pre-sleep time snuggling, but I'm afraid of Santa's revenge."

Keith lifted his head enough to laugh clearly, then he pulled back to gaze up into Lance's eyes. "You should be. Something tells me he can be unforgiving."

"So kiss me good night and get to bed before Santa and his Elf head this way."

Keith hummed. "Mrs. Claus must not be aware of Santa's preference for elves then."

"Heathen," Lance accused, but gave him a giggly kiss that caused Keith to laugh harder. "See you in morning. Merry Christmas, Keef."

"Merry Christmas, Lance."

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	14. Happy Christmas

_**Prompts used: Gifts / Christmas / Family**_

* * *

**Happy Christmas**

"Keef!"

Keith jerked awake from a sound sleep with an "Oof!". His mind couldn't comprehend what the hell was going on. The shout and apparent impact of something landing on him confused him and he couldn't move much and it almost sent him into a panic.

Until kisses on his cheek focused his brain and it sluggishly caught up to the fact that Lance was on top of him and was the one who shouted him awake.

"Lance, what the actual fuck?"

"Merry Christmas!"

Christmas? That's right. It was. Still, he had been sleeping soundly and was in a pleasant dream based on the scenario Lance brought up the other day of the pair of them isolated in a remote cabin. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes in time for Lance to land a kiss on his lips. Okay, if he had to wake up early, this wasn't a bad way…

"Ugh, you need to brush your teeth, Keef!"

He put his hand on Lance's face and shoved his boyfriend off. "Nice," he growled.

Lance fell to the side laughing. "Oh, don't bring out Grumpy Bear this morning!" he pleaded. "I want my Happy Bear!"

"Give me five minutes to wake up."

"Wake up, shower, and brush those chompers," Lance sang, poking him in the cheek.

Keith swatted at his hand, then rolled onto his side. He scooted closer into the circle of Lance's willing arms, snuggling up to the warm body and nuzzling his face into Lance's chest. "Five more minutes," he mumbled.

"There's my snuggle bear," Lance cooed. "I'll give you three. We have to see if Santa came."

"What time is it?"

"Almost eight. I heard Shiro and Adam get up half an hour ago. I smelled bacon and coffee before I came in here."

"Mmph."

* * *

Lance allowed him almost fifteen minutes before he finally shoved Keith a little to get him moving, claiming that his arm was asleep anyway and besides he was starving and did Keef really want his Lance to starve to death on Christmas morning?

Keith took a quick shower, brushed his teeth (thank you very much), got dressed, and was back in his room in less than ten minutes. Lance waited for him and together they went out into the kitchen, where Shiro sat looking at his phone and Adam stood at the stove patiently turning over bacon.

"Merry Christmas!" Shiro said when he noticed the boys arrival. Adam echoed him.

"Merry Christmas!" Lance and Keith responded together. They joined Shiro at the table after Adam turned down their offer to help.

"How you boys feel this morning?" Shiro asked.

"Not bad," Keith answered. "Not like we drank a lot."

Shiro grunted as Adam giggled. "Kashi is nursing a bit of a hangover headache, I guess," Adam said. "He looks a little green this morning."

Shiro did look a little out of it, but Keith knew Shiro hadn't drunk much the night before. He was pretty sure he knew what caused Shiro to look as if he were going to throw up. There was a certain present under the tree that was the cause of that look on his face. And as Adam's back was turned to them, Keith gave Shiro the biggest and most evil smirk he could manage. Shiro glared back.

Keith caught Lance giving him a strange look and realized he hadn't told Lance what Shiro's plan was. He shrugged and whispered "later" to Lance, who nodded. Aloud he said, "Shiro never could handle his liquor."

Adam hummed. "I thought he could in college. I must be remembering wrong. Or it's old age."

"Nice, Adam," Shiro said.

Lance sighed, "I am going to miss this when I head on down to Miami."

"Me?" Keith said.

"No. Adam's cooking."

Keith pouted and tried out the look that Lance liked to give him when he wanted something. The look of a sad puppy. He'd practiced it and was pleased to see how well it worked. The guilty expression which flooded Lance's face was worth it. To add to it, Keith said in a broken tone, "You won't miss me?"

"Oh, shit, no. I mean, yes. Fuck. Sweetheart, I'm gonna miss my little bear so much!" Lance cried, scooting his chair closer and throwing his arms around Keith.

"Wow, Keith, that was good," Adam approved. Keith shot him a smug smile over Lance's shoulder.

* * *

It was nearly eleven when they finally moved into the living room where the tree and their presents waited. Shiro distracted himself before that with cleaning the kitchen from the remnants of their breakfast. "Are you sure you feel well, Kashi?" Adam asked at one point, all concerned, as he put the back of his hand on Shiro's forehead. "You really do look pale."

"I'm ok," Shiro ground out between clenched teeth.

"I'm sure he'll feel okay after presents," Keith said as he wiped the frying pan Lance handed him after washing. "Maybe he can lay down or something."

"I really think you should. We can postpone gifts til later," Adam suggested.

"No, I'll be fine!"

Keith handed out presents. There weren't many – he and Shiro didn't usually exchange many. They had a rule with each other which was a leftover from their father. It was a rule their father found somewhere and Shiro and Keith thought it was a great rule. Four gifts for each other: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. It worked, kept the stress levels down for buying gifts, saved them money, and let the focus be more on the family aspect of the holiday than the greedy aspects.

It did, however, take forever to get Adam to accept the boundaries. Adam came from a family that went all out for Christmas. Hence the Christmas decorations in and out of the house. It was how he was raised and Adam was a generous soul anyway. It was something that Shiro insisted upon, and Adam told Keith that Shiro allowed so much else, he felt he could compromise on this.

In turn, Keith told Lance that he wasn't expected to give any gifts and certainly wouldn't be expected to follow the four item rule. Lance wouldn't be able to afford four things for each Shiro, Adam, and Keith. Keith assured Lance that he would put Lance's name on the gifts he gave Shiro and Adam. Lance insisted that he make something for Shiro and Adam as the something to wear, and Keith thought that worked out great.

The first surprise for Lance was the fourth stocking on the wall with his name on it. Keith didn't even know Shiro and Adam did this. Shiro took Keith and Lance's stockings down and handed them to the two boys who sat on the loveseat.

"I get my own stocking?" Lance asked, his tone full of wonder as he gripped the bulky item.

"Everyone who is family gets a stocking," Shiro said, giving Lance a warm smile before he went to retrieve his and Adam's.

"Family." Keith heard the whisper, a choked up sound next to him, and he leaned against Lance's side. Lance sniffed a little and turned his head to Keith so they could exchange soft smiles.

he stockings were full mostly of candies and school supplies, some face care and hair care stuff in Keith's he knew Lance was responsible for. Lance had some of the same, as Keith knew the kind of products he liked...and it explained that weird conversation with Shiro a week ago.

Both Shiro and Adam loved the scarves that Lance knitted for them, exclaiming over the colors and how soft the yarn felt. They, in turn, got Lance and Keith each a couple of nerdy t-shirts from their favorite movies.

Keith needed a new iPad for school, and it overwhelmed him that Shiro and Adam got it for him. Keith told Shiro that Lance needed a good calculator for his upcoming math classes, and Lance couldn't believe it when he opened the gift. "You guys, this is…just awesome! Thank you!"

Keith didn't expect Lance to hold to the four gift rule for him. Lance already gave him the sweater a couple of weeks ago, which he said was Keith's Christmas gift. He thought maybe Lance might give him something small to open, but wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't. The sweater was more than enough, and Keith wore it this Christmas morning, proudly telling Shiro and Adam the story behind it, much to Lance's embarrassment when the couple gushed over it.

What Keith didn't expect was three more packages for him from Lance. He looked at his boyfriend with a raised eyebrow when he pulled the three similarly wrapped packages from the pile. "What's this?"

"Santa must have brought them," Lance said.

"You already gave me this sweater," Keith objected.

"I'm not Santa, Keef!"

"Lance…"

"Blame him."

He felt guilty, because he knew Lance was like him – a poor college student. Well, Keith did get Lance four gifts as well, but he didn't think Lance should have gotten him anything more. He picked the first one up and carefully opened it, self-consciously aware that Lance watched him.

The three packages were all the same size and when Keith unwrapped the first it was to find a small box. He gulped and gingerly lifted the lid. And smiled. Inside was what looked like a little handmade book, no bigger than his hand. Written on the front, with drawings of frowning little bears, was "_What Grumpy Bear Needs to Be Happy_".

He looked at Lance, who grinned at him, but had a slight blush to his cheeks. "It's a coupon book. No expiration dates, because I'm generous like that."

Keith lifted the little coupon book from the box and thumbed through it. There were a dozen 'coupons' in there for things that he could turn in for Lance to do for him. A massage. An extended cuddle session. Things of that nature, including a romantic picnic and a midnight visit to any nearby beach. "I love it," he breathed. "I can't wait to turn all these in."

"Just don't use them all at once," Lance advised. "Spread out the goodness."

"Oh, I'll spread it alright."

"Keef!" Lance gasped, not used to Keith being the one to flirt. Shiro and Adam laughed.

When it was Keith's turn again to open another gift, he opened Lance's second one. Inside was a small book of quotes from Shakespeare. Keith didn't admit to it often, but he loved to read Shakespeare. He didn't realize Lance noticed, but it warmed his heart to see the little book.

"So this must be the something I want?" Keith asked, giving Lance a little smirk when it was his turn again. Lance, who was setting the book Shiro and Adam gifted him aside, blushed.

"Y-y-yeah," he stammered. "I mean, I hope so."

Keith slowly unwrapped it and opened the box. There was something wrapped in tissue paper, so he took it out and pulled off the paper. It was a framed picture of him and Lance. He vaguely remembered this being taken, though he'd never seen it. It was at Hunk and James' place early October. He thought they were there for a movie night or something, and Hunk took the picture. By that point he was deep in his crush for Lance. What he didn't know, and what showed in the picture, was that Lance was equally as into him.

They were sat side by side on a couch, Lance's arm around his shoulders. Keith faced forward and wore a smile he never saw on himself. His cheeks were slightly pink, which he knew was probably from the fact that Lance had his arm around him, and his eyes shined in a way that anyone could see how happy he was to be at that spot at that moment.

Lance, on the other hand, had his head turned slightly to Keith and his expression was so fond that Keith had a hard time comprehending it. Lance's smile was his usual bright sunshine one, but the look in his eyes was unmistakable. The Lance in this picture obviously loved the person at whom he was gazing. Did Lance always look at him like that? How did he never see it?

"I've never seen this," was all he could say.

"Hunk took it."

"I remember him taking it."

"I wouldn't let him show it to you."

"Why?"

"Because look at my face! You would have known right away!"

"Look at mine!" Keith objected. "How could you not know how I felt about you from this?"

Lance held up his hands in a helpless sort of gesture. "I just assumed you were having a good time. I didn't think it was because of me!"

"I'm blushing!"

"You do that a lot, though."

"Always around you!"

"Well, I always blushed around you!"

"I never noticed that!" Keith looked at the picture again. "Did you always look at me like this?"

"Not when you were looking back at me. Hunk said I did, though."

"I never noticed."

"I didn't want you to."

"Are they really arguing about how much pining they did before they got together?" Shiro asked.

"Sounds like it," Adam said with a smug grin. He sat patiently waiting to open his next gift.

"Sorry sorry," Keith said. He passed the framed picture to them to see.

"How did you both not know? Jesus," Adam said when he saw the photo.

"We're both oblivious idiots, of course," Keith retorted.

Shiro held up a hand. "At least you know now. That's all that matters."

"True," Lance agreed as Keith reached for the picture again. "Do you like it?"

"Of course I do," Keith said. "And it is something, or someone, I want."

Lance made a small noise as Keith leaned in to kiss him. "Ugh, you're so sappy," he said in a tone that indicated he loved the fact.

Keith's gifts to Lance were also modest and, Keith thought with chagrin, not romantic. For the thing Lance needed, he got him new earbuds for his phone, wireless ones because he knew Lance's wire buds had frayed and were soon to be completely broken. For the thing Lance wanted, he got tickets to see a local nineties cover band that played at bars around their area. He knew Lance loved the group and the tickets were really cheap, but Lance got so excited when he opened them. The thing to read was the first Percy Jackson novel, because he remembered Lance mentioning a few times that he really wanted to read the series. And the thing to wear was a sweatshirt with Keith's high school on it. "Aw! I can keep you with me all the time when I wear it, Keef!" Lance exclaimed, then immediately put the shirt on.

Keith noticed, as the late morning present opening dragged on, that Shiro looked progressively worse. He saw Lance watching his brother with a slight frown a few times and, Keith had to admit, Shiro looked about to pass out. Adam, too, mentioned a few times that they could stop and continue once Shiro felt better, but Shiro kept waving it off.

When the presents seemed to be done, Adam stood and disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve a trashbag from the utility cabinet. Once he left the room, Shiro bent over on himself and, crossing his arms on his thighs, hid his face there.

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Keith held up his hand to stop him. "You okay, Shiro?" he asked.

Shiro took a deep breath. Then another. He finally straightened as they heard Adam return. Lance jumped up to help Adam gather up the wrapping paper haphazardly strewn about the floor. Keith busied himself by stacking his presents in a neat pile and Shiro continued to have a slight panic attack on the couch.

"What's this?" Adam asked as he uncovered a still-wrapped package to the side of the tree. Shiro had deliberately thrown most of the unwrapped papers to that spot.

"Another gift?" Keith asked.

"We each had our four from each other," Adam said, looking around at the other three. "Who cheated?"

"Who's it for?" Lance asked.

"Me, it looks like. From you, Kashi?" Adam said as he picked up the present. "But you got me four things," he objected. "You insisted it be only four, you scamp. You can't cheat on your own rules."

Shiro shrugged and gave Adam a weak smile. "I couldn't help it. I got this after the others. It's another thing I think you might want."

Adam rolled his eyes, but crossed the living room to sit next to Shiro. "You really shouldn't have," he said, clicking his tongue. "You gave me such a hard time about the gifts and then go ahead and do this." He wore a smile, though he scolded Shiro, as he first pulled off the bow to stick on Shiro's head, then unwrapped the box. "Cheater."

What Adam didn't see was Keith slowly lift his phone and hit record.

"A toaster? Seriously? You give me a toaster for Christmas?"

"You want a new one, don't you? You've been complaining about my toaster for two weeks."

"Cause your toaster is a hundred years old and burns the toast every time!"

"So you don't like it?" Shiro asked with a pout.

"No, Kashi. I love it. Thank you!"

"Uh, I hope it's the right kind," Shiro said, poking at the box. "Maybe open it and see."

"It's a toaster, Kashi," Adam said, giving him a strange look. "I can see the picture on the box."

"Still…" Shiro shrugged. "You never know."

Another look crossed Adam's face and his expression shifted. He knew. Keith could see he knew. He shook his head and said. "Just for that, I shouldn't open it." But, he did. It was only held shut by scotch tape anyway. Keith heard Lance gasp next to him as he finally got the drift.

The box was full of wadded up paper, so Adam had to shuffle through all of it to find the velvet box at the bottom. He pulled it out and let the box drop to his side on the couch. He stared a moment at the box balanced on his palm, then turned to Shiro. "You put it in a toaster?"

Shiro smiled at Adam's tone, then gently lifted the box off Adam's hand. He slid off the couch onto one knee on the floor and opened it, presenting the gold band to his boyfriend. Adam's hand lifted to cover his mouth and he returned Shiro's hopeful look with a fond one.

"Adam, I could spend the rest of the day telling you what you mean to me. What you've done for me. How you've enriched my life with your love, your spirit, your heart. But I'd rather spend the rest of my life telling you all that every day. The only thing I want to know, is if you want to spend the rest of your life as my partner. Will you marry me?"

Adam was shaking his head, fingers still pressed against his lips. "You were right."

Shiro looked a little confused at the answer. "What?"

"You did get me something I want," Adam said. "Yes, my Kashi. I want that more than anything."

Shiro took the ring from its' cushion and slid it onto Adam's ring finger. He looked relieved and the flush that painted his cheeks gave him a much healthier look than he had all morning.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Lance accused. He and Keith were sprawled on the floor on their backs, their heads resting on couch pillows under the tree. The now-opened presents were stacked there for the moment and Adam and Shiro had disappeared into the kitchen. Since the proposal, they wouldn't stop hanging on each other, and Adam even allowed Shiro into the kitchen with him to help prepare dinner. Shiro's idea of helping Adam was hugging him from behind as he chopped vegetables.

"I forgot." When Lance grunted, he added, "I mean, I didn't forget, but we got involved in a bunch of stuff getting ready for Christmas. It slipped my mind. I only found out the day we got here!"

"That meant three days you could have told me, Keef!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"It's pretty under here," Lance said after a small space of silence. "Like we're in our own little world."

Keith peered up into the branches and the twinkling lights. "We are."

"Thank you for the gifts," Lance said, turning onto his side to snuggle up against Keith's.

Keith felt the smile slip easily onto his lips. It did that a lot now. "I'm glad you like them," he said softly. "I love mine."

"It is a nice sweater, if I do say so myself," Lance said as he patted said sweater.

"I'm sorry mine weren't as romantic as yours."

Lance laughed, his legs now tangling with Keith's. Keith reached up to hold the hand Lance rested on his stomach. "It's not a competition," he said. "Yours were perfect for me, and that's romantic, because it shows you know me."

They lay silent for a few minutes before Lance spoke up again. "I wish you could come home with me for Three Kings Day," Lance said, his voice a little whiny. "I'm gonna miss my little bear."

"I'm gonna miss you," Keith agreed. "You know, I love that you call me your bear."

Lance giggled, his breath tickling Keith's neck. "Well good. I'll keep calling you that."

"I feel like I should have something to call you," he said, then hesitated. "And there is something, but I'm scared you'll think it's stupid."

"What is it?"

"Mariposa." Lance didn't say anything right away and Keith panicked a bit. "If you don't like it," he added anxiously, "I won't. I'm sorry. I just…"

Lance's voice sounded strange when he spoke. "Why mariposa?"

"It means butterfly, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Your Spanish is impressive, but why that?"

Keith regretted bringing it up. His cheeks burned so brightly he feared he might outshine the Christmas tree. "I-I…I was watching you last night. You were moving around the room like a butterfly. Floating or something. And butterflies are beautiful and magical. At least I always thought so. Delicate, but tough at the same time."

He felt Lance shift and soon his face came into view as he hovered above Keith, looking intently down at him. Fuck, Keith screwed this up. Why did he open his stupid mouth?

"You think I'm beautiful? And magical?" Did Lance's voice sound…wistful?

"Of course I do."

"Delicate and tough?"

"Yeah…"

Lance pressed his face into Keith's chest, hiding it. "Oh my god, Keef," he wailed. "How can you say you're not romantic?"

Keith blinked a couple of times. Lance liked it? "Cause…I'm not?"

"You idiot! You're making me cry!"

"Don't cry!" Keith cried, alarmed. He automatically wrapped his arms around Lance, terrified that he hurt him.

"It's happy tears," Lance assured him, lifting his head. Sure enough, his eyes sparkled. "I love you so much."

Lance laughed, then, at the stunned look on Keith's face. "You love me?" Keith gasped.

"Brat! I wanted to tell you at midnight on New Years Eve before I kissed you senseless!" He sighed a mock sigh.

"What's stopping you now?"

"What? Kissing you senseless?"

"Yeah!"

Lance leaned down, but instead of a sense depriving kiss, he landed a delicate one on the tip of Keith's nose. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I wanna know if my recipient loves me too? If he does, then I guess I can kiss him senseless."

Keith grinned up at Lance, drunk on the giddy feeling shooting through him. It felt similar to that first day at the beginning of the month – when Lance confessed. The swooping feeling of falling, heart racing, palms sweating. Only now, instead of a rush of disbelief, he was only filled with wonder. Lance loved him. Loved him.

Filled with that euphoric emotion, he swiftly rolled them both over, knocking Lance's head against one of Shiro's presents. He shoved the box away after Lance said "ouch" and lifted a hand to rub at the side of his head. "I love you," Keith said. "I" (kiss) "Love" (kiss) "You" (kiss kiss kiss).

Lance, his face blooming into a blush, but also transforming into his sunshine expression of pure happiness, laughed. "Senseless kisses it is, then…" he murmured as his hands gripped Keith's head, tangling fingers into Keith's hair to pull his love down to him.

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


	15. Kiss Me at Midnight

_**Prompt used: Midnight**_

* * *

**Kiss Me at Midnight**

"Five minutes!" Luis yelled, turning up the volume on the television. It was set up outside in the yard. The weather was mild enough – not too humid, as Miami could be. An excited babble rose through the crowd of people packed into the large yard. Luis turned the volume up more.

"Dónde está mi novio?"

"Él está aquí!"

"Aquí, hermano!"

"I'm over here Lance!"

Lance squeezed through relatives and family friends, holding a hand above his head in order not to spill his drink. Most people held champagne flutes, but Lance McClain was not a champagne person, not even on New Years Eve. No. If he drank something it had to be sweet and contain rum, or it wasn't worth drinking. He had no idea what was in his glass, only that his sister mixed it for him and it was delicious and helped to soothe the nervousness coursing through his body.

Ugh, how did he have so many family members? He'd never get to Keith on time. Curse Tia Rosita for talking his ears off. She babbled on to him about New Years' Eves past and hookups she'd had. He certainly didn't need to hear any of it or picture his wrinkled and stooped little great-aunt banging her way through Cuba every New Year's Eve.

Definitely did not need that image in his head.

But, he guessed, kudos to Tia Rosita for her…um…stamina.

He hadn't been able to be by Keith's side for the entire evening, it seemed. Every relative wanted to talk to him. It was nice, of course, but he didn't drag Keith down to celebrate New Year's in Miami to leave the poor boy with his sisters. Of course, when he did catch a glimpse of Keith when the partygoers parted enough, he seemed content. Smiling and talking with whomever it was that latched on to him.

As Tia Rosita recounted the glorious New Year's Eve of 1956 in Havana where she managed to find herself in an orgy to celebrate the evening, he gazed at Keith over by the grill. Marco flipped burgers as he and Keith chatted. Keith looked so relaxed and at ease, such a change from the shy boy he was at the beginning of their relationship. Over four years ago, Lance thought with a little shock. It seemed only last month when he twirled Keith around on the quad of their college and shyly confessed his feelings for his roommate.

Four years? Where did the time go? It went to four years of living together in college, visiting each other's family and homes during breaks, small and cheap vacation getaways they couldn't afford but still took, fights and makeup sex, constant support and love, Shiro and Adam's wedding, his sister's wedding, the death of his Abuelo (his dad's dad who had taught him to play guitar), internships, graduation, a long vacation afterwards, job hunts and employment and settling into a new place in a new city – Chicago – where opportunities for both of them abounded, setting up a happy life full of love and support of each other.

So much crammed into four short years.

"There you are!" Keith said with the special smile he saved only for Lance. After four years, it still sent Lance's heart into his throat. He wondered if he'd ever get over winning the love of this amazing man. He doubted it. Keith often told him he couldn't believe Lance loved him, but Lance felt the same way. How many playful arguments had they had over the years about who was the luckiest?

It showed whenever they said goodbye. "I love you!" - "I love you more!" - "I love you most!"

Lance even found a small wooden sign painted with "I Love You More" on it and it now hung in the living room of their new apartment in Chicago.

Yes, they were corny. And they loved it.

Lance reached his free hand to entwine his fingers with Keith's in a gesture well rehearsed by both of them. Whenever they were near each other there had to be a touch. Some tactile contact to ground each other. It wasn't a mere gesture; it was a confirmation and assurance of their love. Usually holding hands, or a brush of a finger against the back of a hand, or a shoulder bump, or a little gentle kick to the other's foot. Any sort of gesture to say "I'm here".

"I couldn't get away from Tia Rosita!"

"Was she telling you about her sex life?" Marco asked.

"Fucking Christ that woman was a nympho!" Lance exclaimed over Marco's roar of laughter.

"Tia Rosita?" Keith asked, his expression confused. He glanced over at the little woman, dressed in bland conservative clothes, a hand-knitted shawl, and her white hair teased into a beehive. "Sweet little Tia Rosita?"

"Yes. Tia Rosita. Who apparently participated in an orgy when she was eighteen! I didn't even lose my virginity until then," Lance said and Keith blushed. They both knew to whom he lost it. "And here she is banging a dozen people! I feel like I missed out!"

Keith frowned while Marco shook his head, muttering "wrong thing to say, hermano."

Realizing it, Lance backtracked, "I mean, not that I wanted to be slutty. I am happy, Keith. Happy! I can't imagine wanting to be in a gang bang!"

Keith hummed to himself and Marco continued to jibe Lance for pissing off his boyfriend. Lance knew Keith wasn't really pissed, but he loved when Keith pouted and acted mad because then he could be sweet to him enough to get him to smile.

"Tio Lance! Is it time?"

He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down. His twelve-year-old niece, Nadia, stood there with her brother Sylvio. They looked up at him expectantly and he shook his head. "Not yet. At midnight."

"What's at midnight?" Keith asked.

Lance's heart sped up and went up into his throat again. Shit. "Um, midnight. New Year, you know. They want New Year's kisses from their Tio," he stammered.

"No…" Sylvio started to say, but shut up when Nadia punched his arm.

"Don't forget, Tio Keith gets the first kiss," she said.

"Two minutes!" Luis yelled. He was much closer to them. In fact, Lance noticed all his immediate family were gathering close to them. As was Shiro and Adam, with their daughter in Adam's arms. Everyone was talking and laughing. The volume of the party rose, drowning out Ryan Seacrest as he counted down to the start of the New Year.

"Remember our first New Year's?" Keith whispered in his ear.

He shivered from Keith's breath and nodded. Lance had spent the holidays with Keith, Shiro, and Adam. He wanted to tell Keith he loved him on New Year's Eve at the stroke of midnight, but accidentally said it on Christmas Day. It turned out great, because they spent the week between Christmas and New Year's saying it to make each other blush.

'I love you''s also drew them closer physically. Not sex yet. Not that week. They saved their first time for when they were back at their dorm. Well, there was one day Adam and Shiro went grocery shopping, leaving them alone with enough time for a heated hour in Keith's childhood bedroom. Lance knew he'd never forget the first time hearing his name in Keith's breathy moans, or the way Keith's fingers pressed into his thighs as his mouth…well…he'd never forget it.

Their first New Year's was quiet. Just the four of them downing champagne (Fuzzy Navels for Lance), playing games, dancing, and counting down to midnight. When Ryan Seacrest counted down from ten that year, Adam opened the front door for a blast of frigid air, announcing they should let the New Year in. Keith and Lance wrapped themselves around each other, lips meeting exactly at midnight, warming each other from contact though they both shivered from the sudden cold.

"The first New Year's I was in love? Of course I remember it," he replied. Keith let go of his hand and slipped it around his waist, pulling him close.

"One minute!"

Lance put his drink on the low wall his father built around the yard so he could drape his arms over Keith's shoulders, facing him and nuzzling close. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he thought Keith might become alarmed for him. His hands hung in the air behind Keith, so Keith didn't see or feel Marco silently pass a small, velvet box into those hands.

He pressed his forehead against Keith's and swallowed through the lump that was his heart in his throat. How did his heart hurt his chest when it was currently stuck in his throat? Ah, biology was never his strong suit in school. Behind Keith's head, his hands fumbled to open the little box.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" and everyone shouted the numbers. Everyone except for Keith and Lance. They pulled apart to look into each other's eyes. It was something they did every New Year since the first. Look into each other's eyes as the New Year came in.

"Seven! Six! Five!"

Lance could see, as he could always see when he looked there, his future in Keith's eyes. Oh, the love, affection, desire were all there. But the most precious to him was their future.

"Four! Three! Two!"

He knew he would look into these eyes until the day his closed forever. He knew he would look into these eyes through every victory, every tragedy, every happy time, every sad time for the rest of their days. He knew he would look into these eyes through job changes, adoptions, new homes, challenges, and successes. He could read all of it there, and all he wanted to do tonight was to secure that future.

"ONE! FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The shouts rang though the backyard, drowned out in Lance's ears by a soft-spoken "Happy New Year" before those lips pressed his as they'd done four years in a row now.

"Tio Keith! Tio Keith!"

Nadia's insistent voice at their sides drew them apart slightly, and they looked down at the young girl and her brother. Instead of annoyance, Keith's voice only held affection for them. "You want your Tio's attention now?"

"No," she said. "I want to ask you a question!"

Keith's brows drew in together and he glanced at Lance, but he quickly looked back down at Nadia. "Ok."

"Will you be our real Tio?" Nadia asked, lifting her clasped hands in a pleading gesture. "Please?"

"Please, Tio Keith!" Sylvio begged, copying his older sister.

"Your real Tio?"

"Yeah, Keith," their father piped up. Keith glanced at Luis. "I'd like to have you for a real brother-in-law."

"I don't…"

"Si, mijo," Lance's mother said and Keith turned his head to the other side to stare at her. "You're already my son in my heart. It shouldn't matter that it's not official, but it would be nice."

"Keith is already a member of this family!" from Rachel.

"I think of Lance as my brother-in-law," Shiro added.

"It's been too long since we've had to plan a reception," Adam said.

"Unca Lance!" screamed the little girl in Adam's arms.

Keith's gaze returned to Lance, who was grinning back at him. "Lance?"

Lance slid his arms off Keith's shoulders as he stepped back. It was too crowded to do the traditional drop to his knee – their family was too close to them – but it didn't matter. He took Keith's hand and lifted it, then showed him the simple silver band tucked into the velvet bed. He didn't say anything, but let their families speak for him.

"Keith will you marry Lance?" everyone shouted.

Lance was incredibly impressed with himself. The look on Keith's face was worth everything at this moment. It was a mixture of disbelief, shock, embarrassment, and love. He darted his gaze up and down from the ring to Lance's eyes for a good minute, then looked around at everyone around them – Shiro, Adam and their daughter, Lance's large family, everyone all smiles and excitement. Lance knew he'd overwhelmed his boyfriend-hopefully-soon-to-be-fiancé, but he also knew Keith would consider this insanely romantic.

"You should give us an answer, Keith," Shiro prodded him with a chuckle.

Keith laughed and relief shot through Lance. He didn't really doubt Keith would say 'yes', but it was still nerve wracking to propose. And to propose to his shy boyfriend in front of their entire family was a risk. "Yes! Yes! I'll marry Lance!"

With shaking hands, Lance somehow managed to get the ring on Keith's own shaking hand. He lifted the hand to kiss the ring, then looked up to smile into those eyes. He could see that future, as always, promised. He couldn't wait to see it sealed and secured on their wedding day. Another kiss, chaste and short from necessity because now all of those family and family friends now had to congratulate the couple and they were pulled away from each other for hugs and kisses from everyone there.

* * *

It was past four when the last of the partygoers stumbled away from the McClain house. Rooms were full of people who had passed out or planned to stay, and Lance assured Keith this was normal. Mamá would 'punish' those crashers by making them clean the yard and house when they woke up – not the fun thing to do hungover on the first day of the New Year.

They sat on the front steps of Lance's childhood home, watching the occasional drunk stumble by, invariably lifting a hand to wish them a 'feliz año nuevo!' as they passed. It was a beautiful night, quieter than hours earlier when fireworks rang out over the neighborhood over the sounds of salsa and dance music, shouts and cheers. A slight breeze ruffled their hair as they leaned on each other on the top step, holding hands and smiling every time Lance lifted Keith's hand to kiss the ring.

"I can't believe you had your family propose to me."

"I was too nervous myself," Lance said.

"Why on earth would you be nervous? You knew I'd say yes."

"I _thought_ you'd say yes. I didn't _know_."

Keith gave him a little nudge with his arm. "Oh, come on."

"Seriously, Keith! You're unpredictable!"

"I'm the most predictable person in the world," Keith argued.

"Let's not argue on our engagement day!"

"Our engagement day…" Keith whispered. He laid his head against Lance's shoulder and Lance tilted his head enough to rest against Keith's.

"Our engagement day…" Lance affirmed, one more time lifting Keith's hand for a kiss on the ring. He smiled when he felt Keith's chuckle. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

* * *

**A/N: Find me on Tumblr at devooshawrites**


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